**Chapter 4: Assassination**

"Did I see that right? Qiola got taken down in one move?"

"Did he awaken his battle aura?"

It took a while for the surrounding crowd to start discussing what had happened, but their attitudes were clearly different from before. The townspeople who had mocked Linton earlier no longer dared to laugh at him. Not only that, but no one dared to meet his gaze. Whenever Linton turned his head, they quickly averted their eyes.

"Got more business? Or are you still planning to drag me to jail?" Linton ignored the onlookers and turned to the three city guards nearby. These were Qiola's men, the ones who had helped him extort money from Linton before.

The three were clearly terrified, standing frozen and speechless. Qiola had been taken down in an instant—what could they possibly do now?

"Take him and get out of here. And remember what I said—you've got ten days to gather the money and pay it back." Linton ordered.

The three men hurried over to Qiola, who had been beaten so badly his face was unrecognizable. His mother probably wouldn't even recognize him. Without wasting time, they grabbed Qiola and left. The crowd slowly dispersed as well, though no one said anything. Everyone understood—there was now a new strongest person in town.

Linton, however, had many questions running through his mind. The system's authenticity had been confirmed, and it really did boost his strength, but the problem was… what exactly was this system? Where did it come from? And what was that brief time travel incident?

"Young master..." Uncle Eck stood up from the ground, still clutching his stomach, though clearly pushing past the pain. "Did you awaken your battle aura?"

"Do I look like it?" Linton replied.

"Well... I'm not sure," Eck admitted.

"I know you want to go back, but even if I did awaken my aura at 19, do you think the main family would care?" Linton asked.

Eck had been happy at first, but Linton's words doused that hope. He realized Linton had a point.

"Do you know the motto of our Merovey family?" Linton asked suddenly.

"Huh?" Eck was taken aback. He had worked for the Merovey family for decades but had never heard of any family motto. Linton had probably made up the "debts must be paid" line earlier. Now that he was being asked again, what was he supposed to say? After thinking for a moment, Eck decided to go along with Linton's flow. "Debts must be paid?"

"Nonsense. Our family has no such motto," Linton said.

Eck was dumbfounded, his eyes clearly asking, "How do you know that?"

"The real Merovey family motto is 'Strive for self-improvement,'" Linton said earnestly. "It means not to care too much about what others think, but to focus on strengthening yourself."

Eck was speechless. There was no such motto. Could Linton at least make up something more believable?

"Are you sure you're okay? Should we get a doctor or healer to take a look?" Linton asked, noticing Eck still holding his stomach.

"No need, young master. I'm used to getting hit," Eck replied.

"What's going on here?" Radnor, who had gone to fetch Linton earlier, finally arrived home. He was confused by the scene. Captain Qiola had arrived earlier with such hostility, and now he was gone. Had they paid him off? But their family didn't have any money left, right? And why had the wooden shed by the door collapsed? Had there been a fight? What happened?

"Go buy some meat. We're having a good meal tonight," Linton said, handing Radnor some money from his bag.

"Huh? But where did this money come from?" Radnor was puzzled. Shouldn't all their money have gone to Qiola?

"Just go." Eck chuckled.

Still confused, Radnor went off to buy meat. Meanwhile, word spread about Linton defeating Qiola. The town wasn't big, so even though word of mouth wasn't always the most efficient, it was enough here.

When Radnor heard about the fight, he was utterly shocked. To him, it seemed impossible. Qiola was the captain of the city guard, and Radnor knew better than anyone how strong Qiola was. Sure, Linton was a bit stronger than Radnor, but compared to the captain, the difference was huge. How had the tables turned so suddenly?

Radnor rushed home and immediately asked about it. Linton gave him a faint smile. "Do you know the motto of our family?"

Eck, who was cooking nearby, felt a jolt of anxiety. *He's making stuff up again.*

Sure enough, Linton continued, "A gentleman hides his abilities, waiting for the right time to use them. What it means is, I'm awesome, but I don't need to tell you—you'll figure it out on your own."

"I don't get it, but it sounds impressive," Radnor replied, still mystified.

"All right, let's eat." Eck wasn't sure what had happened, but Linton seemed like a different person today—not only stronger but also full of strange, made-up sayings. Radnor looked thoroughly convinced. If Eck weren't part of the Merovey family, he might have believed that they had more mottos than he could keep up with.

The three sat down to eat. During the meal, Linton asked a few questions and learned that their family's financial situation was dire. Forget about ten silver coins; they'd be lucky to scrounge up five. The family's only source of income was the leather workshop behind the house, but they didn't even have enough money for raw materials. Thinking of Qiola, Linton felt a surge of anger. He hoped Qiola would repay at least some of the money, though the odds were slim. Otherwise, what was the point of letting him live?

"Oh, young master, I almost forgot," Eck suddenly said halfway through the meal. "Town Master Tylvin has returned and brought a letter from the main family. He sent word for you to visit him when you have time."

"A letter from the main family?" Linton didn't know much about the Merovey family. In fact, he hadn't met any of them, and most of what he knew came from Eck. He didn't have any of the original body's memories, so he wasn't eager to get involved with them. Still, it would be strange not to go pick up the letter.

"I see. It's late today; I'll go tomorrow," Linton replied.

After dinner, Radnor's work for the day was done, and he headed home. Linton and Eck remained in the house, which was pitch dark. There wasn't much to do in the evenings, and they didn't have enough money to burn candles, so they went to bed early. Linton stayed upstairs in the only clean room, while Eck slept downstairs on a large mat.

Both men went to bed early, but despite everything that had happened today, Linton quickly fell asleep as usual. He was the kind of person who could fall asleep the moment his head hit the pillow. However, in the middle of the night, a shadowy figure opened the window of Linton's room on the second floor and slipped inside.

"You're quite the odd one, fourth son of the Merovey family," the shadow muttered softly, though it didn't wake Linton. Drawing a sword that gleamed coldly in the moonlight, the figure approached the bed.

This assassin was here to kill Linton. Seeing Linton asleep, the intruder raised the sword and swung down.

"Hostile target detected. Confirming that host is unconscious. Activating automatic combat mode."

In an instant, Linton suddenly rolled to the left, dodging the assassin's strike. The unexpected movement startled the assassin. Before he could react, Linton shot up from the bed and lunged toward him.

"Huh? Wait..." Linton had just woken up and was completely confused, watching himself lunge at the intruder. *What the hell is going on?*

Before he could make sense of the situation, he grabbed the assassin's sword arm and twisted it in a textbook disarming move. His strength was so overwhelming that even the assassin looked surprised.

"Wait, what's going on?" Linton blurted out. "An assassin?"

The assassin's outfit made it clear what was happening—someone had sent a killer. Linton's first guess was Qiola, but he dismissed that thought almost immediately.

With a sharp grunt, the assassin's body suddenly flashed with light, and Linton's grip was inexplicably thrown off. Then, the assassin followed up with a kick that sent Linton crashing through the wall and out of the second-story window.

"What the hell? Battle aura?" Linton hadn't seen anyone use aura before, but he'd heard about it from Eck. Judging by the assassin's abilities, it was clear this was aura. And if the assassin was a battle aura user, there was no way Qiola could have hired him. Qiola was just a city guard captain in a backwater town—he didn't have the means to hire an aura master. So who had sent this assassin?

*Boom!* Linton's body finished a midair flip and landed gracefully, absorbing the impact of the fall. He realized he had once again entered the system's automatic combat mode. But what puzzled him was why it hadn't activated during his fight with Qiola. He'd assumed the mode didn't work here, but apparently, it did.

"Host, please provide more

 combat information," the voice suddenly prompted.

Linton thought for a moment. The system probably didn't know what battle aura was, but it had picked up on his earlier shout. So he yelled, "Run!"

(End of Chapter)