“What did you do to Guy?”
【Shadow User Rada】【Race: Beastkin (Cat) ♀】
【Mana Capacity: 233/235】【HP: 240/240】
【Overall Combat Strength: 855 (Body Enhancement in progress: 1017)】
…She’s quite strong. This is probably the ‘Shadow User Rada’.
I remember the general presence and “habits” of the people who were at that Assassin Guild’s northern border branch, even if they were hiding.
Stealth isn’t about hiding, it’s about not being found.
Even if you’re perfectly hidden, if you know they are ‘definitely there’, it becomes a sense of incongruity, and if it’s too perfect, a “habit” is born. If you remember that habit, it becomes possible to see through the stealth.
Among them, the only one whose presence I knew but couldn’t find the sign of was Shadow User Rada.
Judging from that information and the characteristics from her alias, this must be Shadow User Rada.
I tilted my head slightly at Rada’s gaze and question.
“Guy? Dino asked me the same thing, but how would I know, when I was away from the Guild on a job?”
I disposed of Guy along with the beginner hunter, leaving no corpse behind. There shouldn’t be any evidence that I eliminated Guy, so why does Rada suspect me?
“Keira said she requested you to attack her. Didn’t Guy show up at your place?”
The sharp gaze and intimidation unique to Cat Beastkin pierced me. Even so, I didn’t change my expression, and narrowed my eyes to stare back at Rada.
I didn’t expect there to be horizontal connections between members in such a Guild.
I didn’t think that Keira would tell anyone information that would be disadvantageous to her, but maybe Rada threatened her, or maybe there was a “reason” why she could talk to Rada.
“Stop making strange accusations. Even if he did come, wouldn’t he have been defeated by Monsters in the Dungeon?”
“…There’s no way Guy would be outdone by low-level Monsters. That kid had the power to fight me on equal terms in a simple, head-on battle. There’s no way Guy would lose… unless he was caught in some dirty ‘trap’.”
Killing Intent and dark Mana oozed from Rada’s entire body, and I also filled my entire body with Mana, using the “darkness” I created in my palm as a medium to take out a Hidden Weapon for throwing.
Our silent Killing Intent collided, and the presence of the small creatures around us disappeared as if fleeing.
Are you planning to fight in the middle of the city in broad daylight? As I was constructing several patterns assuming when the battle would begin, Rada suddenly erased her Killing Intent and threw a bundle of papers at my feet as if discarding them.
“…We’ll talk after the job is done. It contains information from the other contact who entered the Royal Capital earlier. Let’s see how well someone like you can fight against a Rank 4 Adventurer.”
Rada, who said that as if spitting it out, began to retreat without showing her back to me.
“…What is Guy to you?”
When I asked that before her figure disappeared, Rada turned her anger-filled eyes to me for a moment, and left a final mutter as she disappeared into the darkness of the alley.
“—He’s my ‘brother’.”
Rada and Guy grew up in an Orphanage in a small town in the north.
Rada’s parents were both Beastkin Adventurers, and the two, who had come from the Beastkin country to strike it rich, dived into Dungeons many times, and one day, they never returned, leaving behind the young Rada.
There are quite a few demi-humans in the Kingdom of Claydale, which is a human country, but there is still subtle prejudice, and not many of them are in regular occupations.
It was an Adventurer who was an acquaintance of her parents who put the remaining Rada in the Orphanage, but Rada, who was a Beastkin who was not even a regular citizen, was lucky to be put in the Orphanage.
Even so, when Rada, who couldn’t get along with the human orphans and was lonely, was five years old, a Cruz baby was sent to the Orphanage.
It was rare for Cruz people with different skin colors to be discriminated against, but that was only between adults, and in the case of children, they would exclude anything different from themselves in a cruel way.
The older orphans were supposed to take turns taking care of the baby, but the orphans didn’t want to take care of the baby named Guy and pushed it onto Rada, who was only five years old.
‘You have black hair and black eyes, so you should take care of the black baby.’
Rada was pushed onto her with such heartless words, but when she saw the baby reaching out without any strength, she decided to protect this child.
They sought each other out as if healing each other’s loneliness, Guy adored Rada as his sister, and Rada cherished Guy as her sister.
Then, when Rada was 12 years old and Guy was 8 years old, the two stole money and ran away from the Orphanage, which was cold to “foreign objects”.
‘Guy, if the people of this country call us “black”, then let’s live in the “shadows”.’
‘Yeah, Rada. Let’s show them our power.’
Rada had received combat and Dark Magic training from her parents, who were Adventurers, and Guy also quickly gained strength due to the high physical abilities unique to the Cruz.
The two hid in the Slum District, attacking and killing drunks on moonless nights, and stealing their lives and money.
That act incurred the wrath of the Thieves’ Guild that managed the area, but it was a member of the Assassin Guild who first found the two and called out to them.
Rada became a master of stealth abilities unique to Cat Beastkin and her talent for Dark Magic, and was even called “Shadow User”, and although Guy’s evaluation was only around Rank 3, he became a warrior who was respected even within the Guild in interpersonal battles.
One day, Guy went out chasing a new kid and never came back.
It was not uncommon for missions to take several months in the Assassin Guild, and Rada was a little worried, but she didn’t care, but Keira herself revealed to Rada that she had asked Guy to hurt the child.
‘Hey, Rada. Don’t you think it’s strange that Guy is taking so long on such an easy job?’
Keira knows about Rada and Guy’s relationship, and is trying to direct Rada’s malice towards that child.
She knows that the child and Keira had a dispute. Rada was angry at Keira for getting her involved in such a trivial matter, but Rada prioritized Guy and volunteered to be the contact in the Royal Capital to avoid causing problems within the Guild.
The contact this time also serves as a “surveillance officer” whose job is to eliminate the newbie if they make a mistake such as running away or getting caught.
Then, she actually met the newbie in the Royal Capital, and was convinced that this child’s unusual courage and combat strength that she couldn’t believe was that of a child… and above all, those icy cold eyes—no, she was sure that this child had killed Guy.
“Ash-covered, I’m going to kill you miserably with my own hands.”
“…”
A brother… is that some kind of metaphorical expression? I felt that her presence had completely disappeared from the “Shadow” where Rada had disappeared, and exhaled slightly.
Well, whatever. In that short exchange, Rada gave me a lot of information.
Whether they are step-siblings or not, if Rada cares about Guy so much that she would chase me to the Royal Capital to kill me, that is important information.
Rada is strong. Even so, if she loses herself in anger, gaps will be created no matter how strong she is.
If I have information, I can make her even angrier. Intimidating the weak and angering the strong is a common way to create openings.
It was a casual word, but I thought that Rada emphasized ‘Rank 4 Adventurer’ because Rada’s rank was 4.
Judging from Rada’s Mana and combat strength that I saw in the appraisal, and the fact that she was Rank 4, but her close combat with Rank 3 Guy was equal, Rada’s Rank 4 equivalent strength must be due to [Dark Magic].
Moreover, Rada made a mistake. Whether she underestimated me because I was a child, or whether she was pretending to be calm but had lost herself in anger, she showed me the activation of Dark Magic, which appears from the Shadow and disappears into the Shadow, in front of me, who can see Mana Particles in color.
From that sensation, it seems that she can move from one Shadow to another, but since Spatial Transfer is impossible at that level even for short distances, I guess it’s a technique similar to Spatial Storage using the darkness of my body as a medium.
She envelops her entire body in dark Mana Particles, making it possible to “move” only to Shadows connected from the Shadow or Shadows connected by Mana.
A space isolated by dark Mana Particles is like a vacuum where living things cannot survive, but it is possible for a few seconds. Therefore, if she is hiding for longer than that, she must be making a hole in the dark isolated space.
Moreover, this ‘Shadow Walk’ has a flaw.
And the most important information in this encounter is that I saw Rada’s figure.
Rada’s stealth technique surpasses mine, so I couldn’t perfectly grasp her presence, but at least I could feel the “incongruity” when she entered and exited the Shadow.
Just as I have become able to identify people by their presence, the reason Rada was able to identify me, who had changed my appearance and erased the ash from my hair, is probably because she also remembers my presence.
Rada can identify me, but I can only sense Rada’s strangeness. It seems disadvantageous for me, but the fact that I know this is my “strength.”
The battle between Dark Magic users is a game of “deception” and “trickery.” In this battle, combat power is not so important; what matters is understanding the opponent’s psychological state and information about their hand. For me, “Shadow User Rada” is the worst possible match. If my betrayal of the Assassin Guild is exposed and we become enemies, just the presence of the elusive Rada drastically reduces my chances of survival. That’s why it was truly fortunate that the contact who came here was Rada.
…Rada. As a fellow Dark Magic user, I will defeat you and become stronger.
“Rada. You will die and become my nourishment.”
Recognizing each other as enemies, yet appearing as allies on the surface, the two began to move to kill each other.
Next time: The town with the Dungeon.