Anagin Chronicles

Chapter 078. Proof (3)

“You lot are nothing special. Are you deaf or something?”

Anagin said this to the many people surrounding him.

Those around Anagin were practitioners training at Chiron Tower.

They were also the ones who had warmly welcomed the New Argonaut Expedition Team when it returned.

When they first saw Anagin, they seemed briefly interested, but soon lost interest, and Anagin likewise paid them little mind.

So how did things suddenly turn into a conversation like this?

To explain that, it was necessary to rewind time a little.

Back to when Grumbal, after reading the article about Anagin, told him to come back later.

Anagin had followed Grumbal's words.

Well, based on Grumbal's expression and the atmosphere, he thought it would be better to just go along with it rather than pestering him to fix the items.

Besides, he was tired from not eating or sleeping for fifteen days.

Anyway, combining all of those reasons, Anagin decided to step away for a while, just as Grumbal had said.

‘What are you going to do now? Sleep?’

Sphinx asked after seeing Anagin, who had been chasing Grumbal for fifteen days without eating or sleeping.

‘No, food first.’

Among the three major human desires—sleep, hunger, and lust—it was said that the desire for sleep was the strongest, but even so, Anagin decided to eat first.

He did feel sleepy, but thanks to his training with his master, he could hold out for about fifteen days without sleeping.

‘Just what kind of master do you even have?’

‘Someone crazier than me.’

Anagin answered Sphinx’s question with confidence.

After all, his master was the kind of person who preached that fighting was all about stamina and then drove him nonstop for an entire month without letting him sleep. Calling him crazier than himself still felt like an understatement.

In any case, thanks to that insane master, Anagin was still holding up, so he decided to fill his stomach first.

Not only was he extremely hungry from fasting for fifteen days, but he was also curious about what kind of food Chiron Tower would serve.

‘It won’t be as amazing as you’re imagining.’

Sphinx, who had already eaten there, poured cold water on his expectations.

Just as Sphinx said, the food provided in the common dining hall was nothing spectacular.

Olives, cheese, figs, barley porridge, and dried meat. That was all.

‘Why do you think there are separate restaurants in the tower?’

If the food in the common dining hall were delicious, there would be no need for separate restaurants.

In fact, the number of people in the common dining hall was far fewer than the number he had seen in the restaurants they passed by earlier. Despite that, the place was incredibly spacious, which made it feel oddly desolate.

‘Want to go somewhere else?’

Sphinx asked while picking up food, but Anagin declined.

He had already taken his portion, so it felt like a waste, and besides, there were plenty of good restaurants outside Chiron Tower.

On the other hand, the common dining hall food was something he could only eat here, and above all, it wasn’t bad at all.

‘Really?’

‘It feels more nutritious.’

Anagin said this as he scooped up a big spoonful of barley porridge.

Whether it was made with some special method or not, it felt like the nutrients were being absorbed more efficiently by his body. Or maybe it just felt that way because he had been starving for fifteen days.

Either way, the food tasted good, and as Anagin devoured in one sitting what he hadn’t eaten for fifteen days, he asked Sphinx a few questions.

First, whether it hadn’t been lonely while he was gone.

Second, what it had been doing to pass the lonely time while he was away.

Third, what Kori and Pais were doing now, all lonely without him.

Sphinx answered kindly.

First, it hadn’t been lonely.

Second, she toured Chiron Tower with Sanchoenius as a guide. For reference, it had not been lonely.

Third, Kori and Pais were currently doing basic training on the first floor with Sanchoenius’s help. Once again, not lonely.

Even after hearing the answers, Anagin didn’t believe it. How could it not be lonely when he wasn’t around? Without someone as fun as him, loneliness was only natural!

While Sphinx, who had come to the common dining hall with Anagin, was starting to regret that decision, practitioners from Chiron Tower came over.

They were holding a crumpled newspaper in one hand.

‘Hey, let me ask you something. Answer honestly.’

‘You saw this article too, right? What the hell is going on?’

‘What do you mean, what’s going on? I’m asking how you bribed that reporter bastard!’

He couldn’t remember the exact words clearly due to lack of sleep, but it had gone roughly like that, and Anagin told them he hadn’t bribed anyone.

They exchanged a few more words, and then.......

‘You lot are nothing special. Are you deaf or something?’

That was how things had arrived at the present.

“Haaa~”

Anagin let out a long sigh and gulped down his barley porridge.

Gulp. Gulp. Gulp.

Feeling warmth spread through his stomach, Anagin looked around.

The ones who had been barking like dogs earlier, clearly provoked by what Anagin said, now looked like they were about to bite at any moment.

It seemed that Anagin’s remark that they were “nothing special” had cut them deeply.

Anagin checked the numbers engraved on the practitioners’ chests one by one.

‘3, 4, 4, 5, 4, 6.......’

The most common numbers were 3 and 4, while 2, 5, and 6 were the rarest.

Come to think of it, practitioners ranked 7 or higher weren’t something he saw often in Chiron Tower.

‘Are people ranked 7 and up really that impressive? Higher number means stronger, I guess, but I don’t really know the specifics.’

It was a bit troublesome not knowing, but Anagin decided not to be discouraged. Judging by their expressions, he felt like he would find out soon enough. Just watch.

“If you’re that confident in your skills, why don’t you prove it?”

They were suggesting a spar.

Anagin felt both bored and intrigued.

He couldn’t understand why these practitioners loved sparring so much.

After sparring with his master, Anagin found that whole business unbelievably tedious.

Of course, he had a rough idea why.

The “sparring” Anagin knew, and the “sparring” they were talking about were fundamentally different in nature.

That was why Anagin had refused every spar so far.

“.......”

Anagin fell silent, thinking. He didn’t know their level, but if they were similar in strength to the New Argonaut Expedition Team, he wasn’t confident he could avoid beating them to death.... No matter what, he was a guest. It didn’t feel right to beat the host’s people to death.

“Why did you suddenly go quiet? Scared?”

“By any chance.... Are those people here?”

“...? Who?”

“Irida’s sister and Tramachus’s cousin.”

The Great Warrior Atalanta and Meleager the Immortal. Anagin mentioned the two heroes of the Argonaut Expedition Team.

“If it’s them, I’m fine with it.”

“What?!”

The practitioner he was talking to shouted in shock, while Sphinx, listening nearby, reacted as if this was exactly what it expected.

It was just so Anagin—always stepping forward first and pissing people off.

Grab!

Someone who couldn’t take it anymore finally grabbed Anagin by the collar. For those who had entered Chiron Tower after hearing tales of the Argonaut Expedition Team’s heroes, Anagin’s words were on par with insulting their parents.

Squeeze...!

Of course, Anagin couldn’t care less about that.

“Guhhh...!”

Anagin grabbed the wrist of the one clutching his collar and squeezed it tight. Just shy of crushing the bone.

With exquisite control, the bone wasn’t actually crushed, but the pain alone was more than enough.

Unable to endure the pain in his wrist, the practitioner dropped to his knees.

Seeing that, the surrounding practitioners were startled and took fighting stances.

They knew Anagin had some skill, having participated in the subjugation of the Forest Brotherhood and earning a nickname for himself, but this was beyond imagination.

As irritation slowly welled up inside him, and Anagin was considering just taking a hit and then beating them all down, someone stepped in.

“Mr. Anagin?”

An elderly man in a servant’s attire.

It was a face he had seen before.

The butler who had reported to Chiron at the top of the tower.

“The master asks to see you for a moment.”

The butler conveyed that Chiron was looking for Anagin.

It was, one might say, an exquisitely inconvenient timing.

* * *

Guided by the butler, Anagin made his way up to the very top of Chiron Tower.

Just getting there took ages.

A thought suddenly crossed his mind.

Maybe the reason this tower was so tall was that even walking was considered part of the training....

If that were really the case, it would honestly piss him off.

“You may enter.”

When the butler pointed at the massive door, it opened on its own.

As Anagin stepped inside, he saw a modest interior and Chiron seated on a similarly modest chair.

Chiron looked at Anagin for a moment, then silently gestured for him to sit, and Anagin quietly took the seat opposite him.

“I expected you to say something the moment you came in, but you’re quiet.”

Chiron broke the brief silence first.

“I don’t know why you called me. Whether it’s because of the newspaper article, or because I almost fought your disciples, or because I asked Mr. Grumbal to repair something.”

“All of them are reasonable reasons. You’re perceptive, are you?”

“I don’t lack tact. I just usually don’t bother using it.”

“And why are you using it now?”

It was a roundabout way of asking why he wasn’t acting shameless like usual.

“Because I was invited here as a guest. I’m trying to mind my manners. I may not look like it, but I received a proper upbringing.”

Considering his usual speech and behavior, it sounded like nonsense, but Anagin said it with confidence.

He knew the bare minimum of etiquette a guest should observe.

A guest borrows the host’s roof and eats the host’s food, so showing that much respect was only proper.

If Anagin truly hadn’t received even that basic upbringing, the people he met in the dining hall earlier would have been reduced to pulp already.

“So let’s just let the part about almost fighting your disciples slide. Bluntly speaking, they were the ones who picked the fight.”

“I understand.”

Chiron said it out of the blue. Understand what?

“Everyone training here takes immense pride in belonging to Chiron Tower, and they project themselves onto the tower’s promising talents. Thinking they were being overshadowed by you was something they couldn’t stomach.”

“What’s wrong with me?”

Anagin grumbled as if he were being wronged. Hearing it put that way bruised his pride. He might look like it, but he had once been the most handsome guy in his village.

‘Granted, that was after beating up everyone more handsome than me.’

Ah, the days of beauty.

Chiron tossed out another remark.

"I feel the same way."

“Oh, really? I didn’t expect that kind of answer. You’re making me embarrassed.”

“I was fairly surprised by the variety of techniques you showed.”

Chiron mentioned the diverse techniques Anagin displayed during his fights with Periphetes the Clubber and Erysichthon the Devourer.

At first, he had assumed Anagin was just a crude brawler who only knew how to punch and kick, but he had used ‘Maga,’ which diverted an opponent’s strength, and ‘Labyrinth Step,’ which moved the body with agile precision.

There were practitioners who had mastered each of those techniques individually, but it was rare to see someone who had learned them all.

“It’s thanks to my master.”

“Master?”

“Yes, master. Some guy from out of town. He taught me those techniques.”

“Impressive.”

“No, wait. Come to think of it, he only ever used them to hit me. He never actually taught me.”

“Then how did you learn them?”

“I analyzed them so I wouldn’t get hit, and while analyzing, they became mine. Turns out I’m amazing.”

Anagin felt irritation rising again. That insane bastard he called a master had done nothing but beat him senseless.

“He sounds like a very efficient teacher. And I think I understand why you refuse to spar. Then why did you say you were fine sparring with Meleager and Atalanta?”

Anagin tilted his head.

He expected Chiron to have watched him nearly fight the disciples, but this was more than that—it was as if he had been eavesdropping

“That’s kind of creepy, you know?”

“It’s my house. Why should I care? Now answer."

“Well, it’s nothing special. Those two seem like they wouldn’t get beaten to death.”

"You're saying you're stronger than them?”

“No. They’re stronger than me.”

Chiron looked surprised.

Was it really that shocking to admit someone else was stronger?

What deserves acknowledgment should be acknowledged. Anagin thought he was strong, but he never thought he was the strongest. If he were, he would’ve beaten his master to a pulp long ago.

Anagin already knew that the world was vast, and strong people were plentiful.

"And yet you still want to spar?”

“I have to fight someone stronger than me to get stronger, don’t I?”

“What if you die?”

Deaths during sparring weren’t common, but they weren’t unheard of either. Especially in fights between powerful individuals.

That was why practitioners who reached a certain level put safety measures in place when sparring. It took effort and money, but compared to one’s life, it was cheap.

However, Anagin, who knew nothing of such methods, gave a much simpler answer.

“If I die from that, then that’s as far as I go.”