"So what should I do now, old man?" Mercedes questioned while calmly eating her meal. She was gazing at the old man waiting for an answer. During the moment, many thoughts passed through her head. There were many things she learned from yesterday.
First was the simple fact that the old man was strict in training. He was also merciless to his opponent and his own disciple. It might be the reason why, despite being a paragon. No one could continue to hold on under his guidance.
Second was the Imperial Grim Art, a powerful and dirty fighting technique. Mercedes remembered that she didn't even properly utilize the art. She was mainly using her Thought Accelerator, but even then, the results when she used a part of it were astounding.
The third one was her discovery of growth in terms of power. It was a strange exhilarating feeling that somehow gave her pleasure. Mercedes understood the danger of such a feeling. She must not grow addicted to it. Otherwise, she might become a monster of some sort.
"The fight yesterday had some problems."
"But you passed the test to learn more about the Imperial Grim Art," Caesar responded while sipping his coffee. Numerous thoughts also passed through his mind, and it was mostly about the fight that happened yesterday.
He thought that his disciple was about to lose due to the fear and hesitance of killing. Obviously, he was wrong. His disciple was the victor of the fight, and the opponent was in a mangled state.
The bloodlust that his disciple emanated was fearsome. It was denser than many assassins he had met in his lifetime. He couldn't help but wonder why such a fearsome bloodlust was emitted by a noble kid who was clearly committing her first murder.
Nonetheless, looking at her now, she didn't seem to be traumatized about the day before. Caesar's disciple adapts well enough under pressure and also quickly moves on from a tragedy.
With such thoughts in mind, Caesar couldn't help but find Mercedes, the perfect disciple for the Imperial Grim Art. Though, he did find it weird that something seemed to compel him to accept her as his disciple.
'That doesn't matter. Since she has become my disciple. My duty is to guide her in the path of martial arts and master the Imperial Grim Art.' Caesar silently thought to himself while sipping coffee. He then glances at Mercedes and continues.
"The next techniques you'll learn about the Imperial Grim Art will be mainly about breaking."
"And I'd like to remind you one thing, Mercedes."
"Every time you advance in terms of technique, you will be given a mission."
"That mission will be worse than what had happened yesterday. Are you sure that you still want to continue? I'll accept your resignation as my disciple and will even give you a place in the capital." Caesar sternly questioned and gazed directly at Mercedes.
Looking at her sapphire-like eyes resembling lustrous gemstones, Caesar calmly waited for a short moment. Mercedes got nearer to him and finished eating. She quietly whispered to the old man.
"I want to learn more, old man. If the mission is a part of the learning process, then so be it."
It was shocking for such words to escape from Mercedes's lips. She was someone from the modern world. Shielded from violence and darkness from a young age. One could say that she was a naïve young lady.
But that naïve young lady was changing. Ever since the first visit to the Imperium, Mercedes has been evolving as a person. She also received many useful skills that fortified her psyche. It would take something horrifying to break her.
"Good! Let us go to the warehouse to start the training."
"And I trust that you have already taken care of the body, right?" Caesar softly asked, wanting to know what happened to the body of the criminal. Mercedes flinched and thought about it. It took a couple of seconds before the old man could receive an answer.
"Uh... I don't remember where but it should be within a dark alley. I couldn't really bury the body. There's barely any dirt in the fortified city." Mercedes answered and shook her head while spreading her arms.
She didn't know what happened to the body, and she also didn't care. Whether it be rotten, eaten, or anything else was something she considered out of her business. Mercedes was only given the order to take the body out of the warehouse.
Mercedes also needed to clean the mess on the ground, which was already done by the heavy rain.
"Hmm... I see."
"Well, then. Let's go!" The old man walked out of the inn after leaving his payment to the reception. Mercedes followed behind, and they headed toward the location where the abandoned warehouse dwelled.
While walking through the streets, Mercedes noticed the circumstances of the fortified city once again. No matter how many times she passed through the streets. The scenery was still disturbing to her.
As a description, it resembled a hellish slum where the streets were dirty. Human feces were everywhere. Many people also didn't bother wearing clothes and were basically walking around the streets naked.
Most of them were women, which meant that they were prostitutes.
There were some that slept on the streets since they were homeless people. The circumstances between the homeless and those with a house seemed to be not so different at all. It was shocking how low the wealth of an average household was in this city.
"You have been staring at them during these past few days. There's no need to think much about them. Most of them are those that entered the gambling dens and lost their identities as human beings. A result of greed and stupidity."
"But you can't fault them. In a world that appears to be ending, It makes many question if something like the future has some worth anymore. Because of this, many nobles went corrupt, and the situation in the fortress cities got worse."
"The Imperium is fated to fall along with this world."
Caesar stated nonchalantly, unbothered by the words he had uttered from his mouth. He was merely speaking the truth. Nothing more, nothing less. Besides, there was no need to think much about it.
After all...
"The only thing you need to do is to survive, kid."
"Even if the Imperium falls and the world becomes a wasteland. You must survive."
"You might question yourself if life is worth living in such a cruel world. But there's one thing I want to tell you with the decades I have experienced."
"Life is a gift. It only appears once in a lifetime. Once you die, you will fade from the face of the earth. Soon, you will be forgotten, and no one will know you ever existed."
Who are you? What kind of life did you have? Will your existence even be remembered?
These were the questions trapped in his head during the passing decades. He was a paragon in a falling world. He was sure that he would be forgotten, but what about the others? Will their existence mean something?
Despite being a War God, Caesar feared death the most. He didn't want to leave the world without seeing it reach its peak. Of course, this was before the Heavens Fall. Now, even if he continued surviving. What would he see when everyone was dead?
Even he himself couldn't believe in his own words. Caesar was merely using Mercedes as a reflection of himself. Reminding him that he must survive no matter what.
"Apologies for the ramblings of this old man, kid." He gave his apologies and continued walking through the streets. Mercedes was silent as she couldn't utter a single word. Thinking about the words of the old man, she did wonder to herself.
And there was one conclusion that she had reached.
"Old man, as you had said before. Life is a gift. Something that appears once in a lifetime. So there's no need to think about the future of whether your existence will be acknowledged or not. What matters is the gift, the present. You must live a life that you'll never regret."
"At least, this is the ramblings of the young me." Mercedes grinned, which made the old man chuckle. What she said was correct. He was too invested in the future that didn't matter.
Even if no one would acknowledge his existence, Caesar was sure of one thing. He did exist, and he didn't need others to continue to know of his existence. The lifetime he had gone through was enough proof.
Anyhow, Mercedes and Caesar arrived at the abandoned warehouse. It was completely cleansed of anything that had happened yesterday. It was good as new despite being abandoned. Caesar walked towards the center, and Mercedes stood at the side.
The old man then demonstrated the next technique of the Imperial Grim Art, the Breaking.
The first one was the Dislocating, and since they had moved on from that. It was time for the Breaking. But what kind of techniques stand within such a classification of the Imperial Grim Art? Well, the answer was simple.
These were terrifying and blood techniques that broke the bones of one's opponent, from arms, legs, neck, ribs, and spine. One can break them and cause them to bring about internal damage to enemies. It was also something that prolonged one's suffering depending on the strike.
"Kid, be ready. I won't waste my time going over the techniques again, so be sure to observe them well. The techniques mainly rely on your first-hand understanding. So you can choose which techniques to focus on."
Caesar remarked and started performing the techniques. What he didn't notice was that Mercedes was perfectly following him from the side using her Thought Accelerator.