All preparations were complete.
One week after infiltrating the Assassin Guild’s northern frontier base in the County of Hedel… I left the city once, re-entered from the front, and headed towards the chapel where the Guild was located.
On the way, I ordered a flatbread made from corn flour with vegetables from a street stall, having a proper meal for the first time in a while.
The city looked the same as when I first saw it.
Early in the morning, a large number of people flowed from the residential district to the artisan district, returning in the evening. From afar in the residential district, I could hear the voices of children and what sounded like a mother scolding them, while the artisan district was filled with the constant sound of hammers hitting metal.
A peaceful city… but beneath it lies the Assassin Guild, one of the hidden sides of this country. Thanks to its existence, the common people laughing in this city are unaware that their peace is maintained by those who know of it and fear it.
“…………”
I made eye contact with the ‘Surveillance Beggar’ sitting near the chapel. When I flicked a silver coin with my fingertip and tossed it, the beggar caught it in mid-air and grinned at the feel of the silver.
“You’re in high spirits, Ash-covered.”
“Just getting in the mood.”
The beggar looked slightly surprised that I, who rarely spoke, had made a light-hearted remark.
To the people living in this city who are connected to the Guild… and to those who unknowingly receive its benefits, I am a potential enemy.
To them, I am a “destroyer” and “evil” who disrupts the peace.
I won’t say that’s wrong. If they have a reason to fight and consider me an “enemy,” then I am prepared to fight them all.
The Assassin Guild has become my enemy. I will kill all enemies.
That’s what it means to face a huge organization.
I descended underground from the side of the chapel and entered through the regular entrance modeled after a tombstone.
I couldn’t see anyone. But I could sense that many people were present within the Guild, suppressing their presence. My encounter with Rada wasn’t in vain. I had become able to sense the unnaturalness of their suppressed presence.
I proceeded further and knocked on the door of a certain room. From inside the room, where I could sense a faint “unnaturalness” without any presence, a voice replied, “Enter.”
“Oh, my beloved fellow disciple. The messenger has already delivered the message. To think you would really eliminate them all without a scratch and return… as expected of our master’s favorite disciple.”
“No problem.”
Even though he had received the report from the messenger, Dino probably didn’t believe that a child like me could really defeat a Rank 4 party.
At best, he thought I could defeat one or two of them. When I was about to lose, he would use me as bait to have Rada eliminate Dagart and the others, rescue me in a near-death state, and sell his goodwill to me and our master.
Integrating the information I had gathered so far, Dino probably had such a scenario in mind. The reason he looked surprised wasn’t because I had returned, but because I had returned so quickly and in one piece.
“You are truly terrifying. This is your reward for this time. It seems a bit humid today, so please rest your body.”
“Understood.”
I received a small leather bag and shook it lightly to feel its size and weight.
Judging from this sensation, it’s about 10 gold coins. Since nearly half of the commission fee goes to the person who did the work, the original commission fee must have been over 20 gold coins.
That’s an amount that only a noble could pay… It seems like it might even exceed the value of the original ‘Spirit Tears,’ but perhaps the heirloom was that important.
Well, whether that’s worth the reward for defeating a Rank 4 party is another matter.
“Even so, how were you able to return so quickly? The two messengers haven’t returned yet, you know?”
Dino called out to me again as I was about to leave the room after receiving the reward. But one of them is a surveillance, not a messenger, right?
“I came through the valley south of Dandole.”
“That’s a place that even a well-balanced adventurer party would have trouble with… Did you manage to get through with that combat ability?”
“…………”
So, I was appraised after all. I had been wearing a cloak to hide my appearance as much as possible, but with Dino’s experience at this close range, he would know my approximate combat ability.
“It’s only natural to get stronger by fighting, right?”
“It seems you’ve been through quite a fierce battle… Aria-san. I hope we can continue to have a good relationship in the future.”
“…………”
Is he saying that he wants me to lend a hand not only with the requested commissions but also in the future, or is it a warning not to think about doing anything reckless…?
At least Dino suspects that I killed Guy. The reason he’s letting it go is probably because he thinks it’s more beneficial to keep the master in a usable state.
But it’s too late. My trap has already been set in motion.
After leaving Dino’s office, I headed to my assigned room while suppressing my presence. There’s no need to increase the number of people who notice my combat ability by moving around. Besides, this Guild is already in a “dangerous state.”
When I returned to the assigned room, the mark I had left before leaving was gone, and there were already signs that someone had broken in.
Since I didn’t leave anything inside, there’s nothing to steal, but it would be troublesome if someone entered and set up a trap. But there was no need to worry about that. The person inside came out on their own before I opened the door.
“Oh, welcome back, Aria. What are you standing there for?”
“What are you doing here?”
Inside was the gothic lolita girl I had first met at the Guild – Keira.
Dino should have isolated her to avoid conflict with me, but it seemed she had been waiting for me. She licked her bright red lips and smiled thinly at my question.
“I was thinking of comforting you when you came crawling back all battered… Didn’t you meet Rada? I went to the trouble of setting things up for you, but she’s more useless than I thought.”
Keira sighed exaggeratedly, then took a step back and cleared the entrance to the room she had been blocking.
“Why don’t you come in for now? It’s hot today, and it’s a dirty room, but it’s better than standing here, right?”
“I don’t want to go into a dirty room.”
It’s your fault that the unused room is dirty. When I easily refused, Keira showed a momentarily irritated face.
“…You’ve become quite cautious. I’ve only set up toys for pranks, so you don’t have to be so scared, you know? Look.”
Keira stepped on a cloth that looked like clothes she had carelessly thrown off, and an arrow that seemed to be from a crossbow shot out from a shelf directly in front of the door, grazing the side of my head and piercing the wall behind me.
“Feel free to come in. Or are you afraid of me?”
“…………”
I sighed softly and stepped into the room.
At that moment–
With a light thud, a crossbow arrow was fired from above.
Before–if it were me when I first came here, I would have been pierced straight through.
It is said that if you acquire Level 4 [Martial Arts], you can evade the fired arrow, and if you acquire Level 5 [Martial Arts], you can catch the fired arrow.
I’m only at Level 3, but with my current mastery of multiple close combat skills, I can deal with it if I know the timing and the targeted location.
“–[Shadow Snatch]–“
With the darkness of [Shadow Snatch], which I had decided from the beginning to manifest on my forehead, I caught the crossbow arrow.
Spatial Dark Magic requires covering the target with Dark Mana Particles. Rada’s [Shadow Walk] wraps herself in darkness, and my [Shadow Snatch] passes through the darkness, wrapping the target in a thin membrane-like Mana Particle and transferring it to a shadow connected by Mana.
I wouldn’t have been able to deal with it if they had aimed for a non-fatal area like my abdomen or limbs.
Even if my prediction was correct, I might have been pierced through my forehead if the timing was slightly off, but it’s not a difficult timing as long as I can overcome the fear of death.
“…Eh?”
Keira, whose abdomen was pierced from below by the crossbow arrow, looked at her own abdomen and me with a stunned expression.
Keira is really easy to understand. The “trust” that I can’t trust anything about you is something she never fails to betray. That’s why, when she made such an easy-to-understand provocation, I extended my Mana and connected it to Keira’s shadow.
When I first met her, I thought she was a troublesome and dangerous person, but after meeting a truly dangerous girl in that dungeon, Keira’s danger feels like lukewarm water.
“H-how did you evade it… why did the arrow hit me… why… why, you, that combat ability is–, Gah!?”
Using the footwork I learned from Sera and the striking techniques I learned from Viro, I quickly struck Keira, who was about to scream, in the throat with a fist clenched like a cat’s paw, crushing her voice.
Finally, they noticed my combat ability after appraising me. If they had cultivated the habit of observing more carefully, they would have understood my approximate strength without needing an appraisal.
Keira-san really doesn’t change. Neither her nature nor her abilities.
“Ugh!”
Keira-san hurriedly produced knives from the cuffs of both sleeves. Knowing this from before, I used the pendulum hidden weapons from the shadows of my palms to sever the tendons in Keira-san’s wrists. I then moved behind her, wrapping the pendulum’s string around her neck to prevent even a small sound, and tightened it enough to snap her neck.
“Gah! Gah!”
Keira-san struggled to remove the string from her neck, but with both hands having severed tendons, it was impossible.
Keira-san’s eyes reflected me, choking her neck expressionlessly from behind, with eyes that pleaded for her life.
The people called strong in this world are too arrogant. Too careless. Too spoiled.
Why do you think the enemy will spare your life?
Why do you think only you won’t die?
Why do you deliberately hold back to flaunt your superiority?
Why don’t you think that an opponent you’ve once antagonized is always aiming to kill you?
“Gah!?”
I snapped Keira-san’s neck, whose last expression was one of terror, and gently laid her on the bed without making a sound.
It’s about time. From now on… I’ll eliminate everyone in the Assassin Guild.
Keira Defeated.
I will now proceed to kill the Assassin Guild from within.