Carla’s Story: A Little Something.
“W-What the hell is this!?”
The attackers, suddenly engulfed in flames that turned their comrades to charcoal, let out voices of dismay.
Amidst the forest, dyed crimson by the spreading fire, men in leather armor surrounded the carriage. They were members of the Assassin Guild’s Southern Frontier Branch, their mission to abduct the Crown Prince’s fiancée as she traveled this road.
Even if she wasn’t in perfect condition, as long as she was alive, she could serve as a bargaining chip against her father, Count Leicester—a leading court magician within the Royalist Faction, though leaning towards neutrality. However, that was a low priority; in the worst case, they were authorized to kill her.
The Aristocratic Faction nobles and a portion of the Second Knight Order had plotted the abduction of Princess Elena and the assassination of Crown Prince Elvan.
Normally, assassins from the Central Branch would handle requests related to the Royal Capital’s nobility.
However, the Central West District Branch, known for its warmongering, had lost many skilled assassins in recent years and couldn’t take on large-scale jobs. The Central East District Branch, boasting the largest scale within the Assassin Guild and possessing its own information network, declined the request, considering the possibility of a “certain individual” being involved.
It was extremely rare for the “Assassin Guild” or “Thieves’ Guild,” deeply involved in politics, to refuse work from nobles, suggesting there were significant reasons.
Hearing this, the Guild Master of the Assassin Guild’s Southern Frontier Branch scoffed at the weak-kneed members of the other branches, declaring that they would take on the job involving royalty.
As an Assassin Guild, they conducted investigations into their targets.
After scrutinizing the list of royals and their relatives received from the client, and gathering information from spies infiltrated into noble houses, they learned that the youngest daughter of the Count Leicester Estate behaved like a “villainous noblewoman” from a story, and was considered exceptionally dangerous by those in noble circles.
The assassins of the Southern Frontier Branch, while taking this information seriously, mistakenly believed the reason for her being considered dangerous was “political.”
As a result, ten Rank 3 assassins, including one Rank 4 assassin, launched an attack on the Count Leicester Estate’s daughter. However, while the Rank 4 assassin was delivering his opening line, flames suddenly erupted from the carriage, incinerating him.
Carla Leicester, the daughter of the Count Leicester Estate.
A girl feared by her own father, politically, internally, and in terms of ability, crushed the charred bones with her fingers with a bloodless, sickly complexion, and wore a delighted smile like a craftsman admiring well-made charcoal.
“Kill her!!”
One of the assassins shouted, his voice slightly strained.
No matter how skilled she might be, she was still a magician, a girl, and looked like a “sick person.” Common magicians were unskilled in close combat, and once within striking distance, they lost most means of retaliation.
Such common knowledge led them to misjudge the situation.
“Die!”
Sensing Carla’s power, they had already given up on abduction. More than that, if they didn’t try to kill her, they would end up as corpses.
Besides, they had taken on this job after mocking the weak-kneed members of the other branches. To avoid tarnishing the Guild’s name, they had to accomplish this mission, even if it meant their own annihilation.
Magic Steel blades gleamed dully as the assassins approached Carla.
However, Carla was no mere noble daughter.
“What!?”
Carla nimbly leaped away from the assassin’s deadly blade with a speed unbelievable for someone in a dress.
Born into the Leicester Estate, a family of magicians, Carla gained All-Attribute Magic through her father’s experiments, but lost her future at the same time as she gained immense power.
All that remained for Carla was “power” and the “frightened eyes” of others reflecting her. That was why Carla had clung to power.
To destroy her father and the country that had allowed his recklessness, Carla had sought power by diving into Dungeons alone, mastering Body Enhancement and Martial Arts to Level 2 to fight against multiple opponents.
“—Air Curtain, Rock Skin—”
Carla, chanting magic instead of spells with a double cast, deflected the released arrows and turned one hand towards the bewildered assassins.
“—Ice Lance—”
The Ice Lance, a compound magic of water and wind, was released, and the assassins who noticed it moved to evade, but the massive icicles that flew past at high speed pierced the abdomens of three of them.
“Gah!”
“Guoh…”
However, contrary to the complexity of its construction and its seemingly cruel appearance, ice-based magic was not very lethal. Because wounds and bleeding froze, it didn’t cause instant death, and there was a chance of receiving a counterattack. Still, high-level magicians used ice-based magic because the intense cold it emitted could delay actions in the surrounding area.
The assassins’ movements clearly slowed. Even if their Body Enhancement was at a higher level, they couldn’t keep up with Carla at this rate.
But Carla hadn’t used Ice Lance for her own safety.
Crack!
Seeing the light scattering from the tip of Carla’s hand, the face of someone knowledgeable about magic twisted in terror.
“—Digvolt—”
Lightning Strike (Digvolt) repainted the forest, already red with flames, in white.
The advanced compound magic of wind and water, Lightning Strike (Digvolt), instantly killed the assassins pierced by Ice Lance and paralyzed the other assassins on the spot, transmitted through the frozen ground.
Seeing Carla immediately produce flames in both hands, one of the assassins understood in despair. Carla had never intended to escape from the beginning, nor did she intend to let anyone escape.
Sensing that Carla simply desired to kill, from her unchanging smile, the man let out words of resentment as his body was burned by the next released flame.
“You fiend…”
Why hadn’t the attackers retreated when the Rank 4 assassin was killed?
From the beginning… the reason they hadn’t escaped and had attacked her was not pride or stubbornness as assassins, but from the “fear” of the weak encountering an overwhelming predator.
“People die. Anyone can.”
Carla doesn’t kill someone to survive. Carla kills because even her own life is not important to her.
Since she was young, “death” had always been close to her. Having gained All-Attribute Magic, Carla didn’t think she could live long. As far as she had researched in books, there were no heroes (humans) with All-Attribute Magic who had lived to thirty.
Carla kills people… the reason she is trying to destroy this country is just spite. It was a grand “entourage” for herself, who had lost her future and would die in the not-too-distant future.
For Carla, who had lived like this since she was young, the value of life, including her own, was not even worth a single Copper Coin.
She didn’t care if she died anytime now. But until then, she would take as many people as possible with her to the afterlife.
But, since when had the purpose for killing changed slightly?
Since that day… since meeting “her.”
A girl with hair stained gray, who exuded an even denser scent of “death” than Carla, and continued to fight to resist fate.
In that magnificent way of life, and in those eyes that held a strong will to kill even a king, Carla wished for the first time not to “live to die” but to “want to die to live.”
She wished to be killed by “her” if she were to die.
That’s why Carla didn’t want to be killed by anyone other than “her.”
To become stronger in order to be killed. For that purpose, she even accepted the Divine Protection (Gift), which she would have laughed off as trivial a few years ago, and sought even greater power.
Carla dreams. On a glamorous stage where many people gather, they would kill each other while engulfed in flames, Carla killing “her” and being killed by “her.”
From that time on, the destruction of this country and the desire to kill her father miserably on the worst possible stage had been reduced to mere “accessories” to make her serious.
That’s why she is now seriously considering the destruction of this country. All because she wants to make her serious and have them love (kill) each other seriously.
“Fufu… cough.”
Perhaps because of the Divine Protection (Gift) she had gained, her already low stamina decreased further with the laughter, and she coughed, blood spilling onto the palm of her hand that she pressed to her mouth.
But all of that was what she had desired. She would decide how to use her life.
Carla thought that if these attackers who had tried to take her life, who was not very important despite being the fiancée of a royal, were targeted, then the royals must also be under attack.
If that happens, “she” will surely appear. To kill everything that obstructs “her” destiny, “she” will surely appear.
Carla, looking back at the path that Crown Prince and Princess would be taking, inhaled slowly as if sensing some kind of “scent,” and started walking towards that direction with a light, joyful step.
” ‘Death (Aria)’ is coming.”
“What is the meaning of this? Who put you up to this?”
Rookwell and Mikhail stepped forward to protect Crown Prince Elvan and Alicia, who was clinging to his arm.
The attackers who stopped the carriage of the Crown Prince’s party ordered them to get out and lined them up in front of it. The Royal Knights that the Crown Prince had brought, and the Shadow Knight that Mikhail had brought, were already dead.
Besides the Royal Knights, a squad from the Second Knight Order, which was supposed to be doing drills, was also escorting them. Rookwell, whose father was the Commander-in-Chief of the Knight Order, realized that they were in league with the attackers and glared at the man who seemed to be the squad leader, trembling with anger.
“Lord Rookwell, I have no grudge against you or the Commander-in-Chief, but everything is for the sake of a greater cause.”
“There’s no greater cause in something like this! If His Highness were to disappear, this country would be thrown into chaos again.”
“That is a necessary pain. We can no longer stop.”
“The ones who will feel the pain are not you, but the common people…”
In the first place, their positions are too different, so there is no point in this discussion. Since the endpoint they envision is different, they will not change their minds.
“…………”
Thinking so, Mikhail left the conversation with the squad leader to Rookwell, and searched for a way to save even just Elvan.
Elvan was standing as if to protect the girl named Alicia, but from Mikhail’s point of view, he wanted the Crown Prince to have the spirit to survive even if it meant using her as a shield.
Alicia also seemed frightened at first glance, but there was no fear on her face, and it was doubtful whether she really understood the situation.
“As a final question, if Lord Rookwell and Lord Mikhail are willing to join our side, we will not take your lives. Some restrictions will be necessary, but what do you say?”
“There’s no way Mikhail and I can agree to something like that!”
Elvan’s face turned pale at the squad leader’s words, and he gasped. Rookwell rejected without a moment’s hesitation. As if he had predicted that, the squad leader raised one hand, and the Assassins wearing leather armor stepped forward.
“That’s a pity. Then we shall kill you without suffering.”
At the same time as the squad leader’s words, the Assassins drew their black-lacquered blades, at that moment—
Rustle…
At that moment, the animals in the Forest began to stir all at once, and as if breaking through the green curtain of the Forest, a Pink-Haired Girl riding a black behemoth appeared, easily leaping over their heads as they stared up in astonishment, the girl muttered in a low voice.
“Nero, kill them.”
Next time, Aria and Nero will interrupt the Crown Prince’s attack.
The Second Knight Order, the Assassins, and the Assassin Guild Master’s Blade close in on Aria.
I wrote it in a hurry, so I might change it a little later.
Thank you as always for your comments and typo reports.