There was a man named Grave in the Shadow Unit of the Kingdom of Claydale.
Originally, he wasn’t from the Kingdom of Claydale. He was born as the son of a Baron family in the Fundoria Theocracy, a religious state north of Claydale, and raised as a devout member of the household. However, one day, his father was slandered by a political enemy, stripped of his position as chief priest, and died in prison.
After that, Grave’s mother took the still young Grave and left the country. After a harsh journey, they drifted to the Kingdom of Claydale.
However, Grave’s mother’s health deteriorated due to the harsh journey, and she followed in her husband’s footsteps. Grave, left alone in an unfamiliar land, settled in the Slums and did whatever it took to survive, hating the world and the nobles who had brought such a fate upon him and his family.
But it was a noble who saved Grave.
The man was Hoss, a Cruz, and he seemed to have known Grave’s father. Hoss apologized to the young Grave for not being able to save his father and mother, and welcomed him, who was living a life of crime in the Slums, as one of his family.
However, Grave refused to become the adopted son of Hoss, who was a noble, and chose to fight as a subordinate of Hoss, who was a Shadow Knight.
Despite being a religious state, the upper echelons of the Fundoria Theocracy were corrupt.
Even in this Kingdom of Claydale, there were probably corrupt nobles. But knowing that Hoss and other decent nobles remained uncrushed, he came to believe that the difference lay in the power of the upper echelons of the country… the royal family.
If the royal family held power correctly, the nation would not be in turmoil. Grave strictly disciplined himself, honing his martial arts and Magic, and sometimes even violated orders to crush the “evil” that could disrupt the country.
His passion could be described as “madness” in a way.
While appearing docile on the surface to remove the “pus” festering in the nation, his passion burned darkly and fiercely, and Grave, strict with himself, naturally began to demand the same of others.
Grave especially disliked those of unclear origin approaching the royal palace, even if they were competent. It was also Grave who assigned Castro, who hated the Slums, to take care of Sera when he heard that she was using children.
For Grave, anything that disturbed the stability of the country, even if it was royalty, became “evil.”
The Crown Prince was still young, so he wasn’t considering eliminating him yet, but if Elena, who was raised by the twisted Second Queen and was a source of contention for the throne, caused trouble, Grave would not hesitate to eliminate her, even if it meant his own execution.
There was a maid trainee who had become Elena’s favorite.
Grave was wary of her, as she possessed Magic surpassing that of nobles despite being a child, and could even defeat Hobgoblins on her own.
To test the maid trainee, he deliberately overlooked Elena’s kidnapping to see her reaction, but the maid single-handedly defeated even a Rank 3 Thief.
Such a child was impossible. He had no intention of taking the risk of allowing such a suspicious child into the royal palace just because she was Elena’s favorite.
He had no intention of overlooking anyone who disturbed the peace of the nation, even if they were just a small sprout.
For the time being, he was thinking of giving her a job and sending her to the provinces to dispose of her when the time came, but then he received an order from the Shadow Unit to investigate the child’s belongings and check if she had any “ornaments.”
The reason for the mission was not disclosed, as it was classified information.
Being forbidden from harming her and only allowed to check her belongings meant that the child might be the illegitimate child of a noble whose identity must not be revealed.
(Dangerous…)
Her existence was too peculiar and could involve the royal family and shake the country.
If she really had “ornaments,” and if she really was the illegitimate child of a noble, Grave judged that she was a “danger” that he should eliminate, regardless of her origin.
＊＊＊
“…What do you intend to do?”
In the moonless night city… on the roof. Grave, the senior butler who was also my employer, who suddenly appeared and slashed away “my enemy,” pointed the Magic Sword in his hand at me.
“Answer the question.”
“…You know ‘what’ I am, don’t you?”
I didn’t know what kind of muscle strength he had, but there was no slight shake in the tip of the sword he held in one hand, and his seemingly natural body exuded a dangerous aura that would immediately slash me if I did anything strange.
“Aria… An unknown child brought by Viro, who killed Hobgoblins single-handedly and mercilessly killed even a higher-ranked Thief. A creepy brat.”
“…………”
“Does such a brat exist? How did you obtain that power? Why can you kill people without hesitation at that age? Was killing that Thief to silence him? What are you hiding? Why are nobles interested in you? I’ll ask again…”
Grave’s sharp gaze pierced me.
“What ‘are’ you?”
“…Who knows?”
How much does he know? No one should have known that I had noble blood in me.
Is he simply questioning my combat ability? But to explain that, it would be unnatural to omit matters related to my origins. If that woman found out about the “ring” in the amulet bag that my mother, who identified “me,” left behind, I would be caught up in the gears of fate again.
I was trying to calmly assess the situation, but perhaps I was a little impatient… I unconsciously touched the amulet bag hanging from my neck over my clothes, and Grave noticed it.
“So you were hiding something after all. Hand it over. If you have a relationship with a noble…”
“—【Phantom Pain】—”
Grave instantly stiffened at the 【Phantom Pain】 I released immediately, and in that gap, I kicked off the roof and began to flee.
Even if I fought Grave, who had ten times my combat power, I had little chance of winning. It would be difficult to even escape with my current abilities, but if he took my trump card, 【Phantom Pain】, even for a moment, there should be an opening.
“Tch!”
I jumped aside, sensing a killing intent, or rather, a bad feeling, and a Knife grazed my shoulder and pierced the roof. At the sound of the wind cutting through the air at that moment, I rolled away with the same momentum, and Grave’s kick that was approaching kicked through the roof.
“So you are related to a noble after all. No matter who you are, I can’t allow a dangerous existence like you to approach the royal family. I will eliminate you here.”
“…Why are you killing me?”
Grave endured the intense Pain of 【Phantom Pain】 and immediately chased after me. I thought that some advanced warriors might be able to endure it, but his recovery was too fast.
I asked a meaningless question to buy time to come up with the next plan, and Grave dutifully answered the question.
“Just in case. In the future, any possibility of disturbing the peace of the country will be crushed ‘just in case.’ The Princess you are friendly with as well.”
“…………”
Elena… Is that why I felt her security was weak…?
“Die.”
At the same time as he pulled out a Knife with his right hand, he threw it, and threw a Pendulum with his left hand.
Grave calmly dodged the blade of the Pendulum by stepping back, and deflected the Knife with the sword in his hand.
“What?”
The second Knife, which I had thrown so that it would be in the Shadow of the first Knife, grazed Grave.
In the meantime, I threw a small bag that I took out of my pocket, and powder scattered around.
“Poison!”
Grave, who instantly saw through it, covered his mouth and charged. So he also has 【Poison Resistance】. Even so, when I threw another small bag, Grave’s legs finally stopped.
“Tricks!”
The first powder was a powder of poisonous herbs, which could be endured if you had Poison Resistance. But the second one was not poison, but a stimulant made from the seeds of red peppers I found in the forest.
While dodging it, Grave threw a Knife. I deflected it with the Black Knife, and jumped off the three-story roof while starting to chant a spell in my mouth.
“I won’t let you escape.”
Grave immediately jumped down and chased after me.
I used 【Weight Up】, which I had been chanting while falling, to shift the direction of my fall, and before I finished falling, I entangled the Pendulum in the handrail of the window frame, and passed Grave, who was chasing after me as if running up the wall, and returned to the roof where I had been.
I’m not confident that I can do such an acrobatic thing again, but I will still use this time I’ve earned effectively.
I scattered the last red pepper powder at the point where I thought Grave would climb up, to buy even a little time. A Knife that flew from behind grazed my shoulder and blood spurted out as I started running on the roof without even looking back.
He’s already climbed up. But if I keep this much distance, even if a Throwing Knife hits me, it shouldn’t do much damage. Of course, there is also the possibility of it hitting a vital point, but I have no choice but to rely on luck.
I used all the weapons I had to slow Grave down, while running across the dark rooftops.
My stock of poison was already exhausted, and the last throwing knife was dodged. The pendulum’s thread was cut, and the blade flew off somewhere. When all I had left was the black knife, I was cornered at the large pier on the river flowing through the city.
＊
“You’ve run around enough.”
Grave had finally cornered the suspicious child named Aria by the river.
Acrobatic martial arts, poison powder that caused abnormal status effects. Throwing knives, and a strange weapon with a blade attached to the end of a thread. And that strange magic that caused such intense pain. This child had learned a large number of strange techniques.
The techniques seemed strange at first glance, but all of them seemed to be designed for fighting against stronger opponents alone. In particular, that magic was enough to stop even Grave, who was used to pain through harsh training, for a moment. If Aria had power above Rank 4 and used it on him at first sight, Grave might have been killed.
(As I thought, this one is dangerous… I have to kill her here before her fangs are pointed at the King.)
It took more effort than I expected, but this is the end. Aria has no more weapons, and while holding the last remaining black knife, she is being steadily driven to the edge of the pier.
“Will you try to challenge me knowing it’s futile? Or will you end your own life with that knife?”
“…………”
Aria doesn’t answer. She glares at Grave with sharp eyes, searching for any way to survive.
I don’t dislike those eyes. I can understand a little why Sera and Viro cared about her and trained her themselves.
“I… have no intention of dying by your hand.”
Aria’s foot kicks off the edge of the pier, and her small body floats into the air.
I could have thrown the knife at that instant. But, captivated by those strong eyes clinging to life, Grave watched Aria disappear into the dark, raging water.
“In the end, she chose to die herself…”
If possible, I would have liked to recover what she was hiding and find out her identity, but it’s enough to have eliminated a future threat.
The last thing I saw in her eyes still showed an attachment to life, but in this dark night, I didn’t think she could survive jumping into the raging river where monsters lurk.
Night Vision, which sees the reflection of Mana Particles, is almost ineffective in this raging torrent. Without being able to use a water breathing spell in water where she can’t even tell up from down, Aria’s chances of survival are lower than fighting and running away from Grave.
Grave wondered if that action was a final act of spite towards him.
He had driven many people to their deaths, but those with more wit often took such actions at the end to erase evidence.
It is probably impossible to recover the body. In this river flow, it is impossible to know how far it will be carried, and even if it flows downstream, hungry monsters should dispose of the body.
“…It’s time to go.”
Until now, I have been acting so as not to be suspected too much, but since I ignored the instructions from the Shadow Unit and killed the target, I will no longer be able to return to the organization.
If the target fell into the river and it was an “accidental death,” there might be an excuse, but I originally belonged to the Shadow Unit for information, and recently I had begun to feel that Sera and others were suspicious of me, so there was not much point in remaining in the Shadow Unit.
Rather, Grave found the current situation, where he could not dispose of the target as he wished because of his position, to be troublesome.
Grave disappears into the moonless night as if melting into the darkness.
The threat of the weirdo who was attacking the Seyles Barony subsided, and with the disappearance of the maid who was the last victim, the incident seemingly came to an end.
And then…
In the downstream waters where the river flow slightly slowed, the Water Serpent, a Rank 1 monster that made its home in the area, noticed the presence of “meat” flowing in the water.
Normally, it feeds on fish and the like, but the corpses of humans and animals that occasionally flow by are the best delicacies for the Water Serpent.
It wriggled its long body, several meters long, through the water, and waited with its jaws open wide enough to swallow a goat whole, when suddenly Mana burst forth from what it thought was meat, and in an instant, the Water Serpent’s head was cut off from its body.
If the Water Serpent had still been conscious, it would have noticed the headless corpses of several Water Serpents flowing from behind that “existence.”
As that “existence” grabbed the tail of the Water Serpent that had lost its head, the Pink-Haired Girl with a black Blade in her teeth emerged from the water.
Swimming to the shore in the slowed current, the girl—Aria—released the 【Harden(Hard)】 from her muddy maid outfit that she had been using as a float, and muttered in a faint voice, holding the knife she had been holding in her frozen fingertips.
“Grave… I will definitely kill you.”
Aria has broken away from the Shadow Unit organization.
This is Grave’s decision alone, but Aria doesn’t know that.
Grave’s actions may seem foolish and incomprehensible from the outside, but they are important to him, and his passion has reached the realm of madness.
I plan to rewrite any parts that have become strange due to repeated rewriting later.
The next chapter will be the third chapter, “Ash-covered Assassin” arc.
I would be happy if you could give me your thoughts and bookmarks.