13 (30)

The figure of the stranger gradually came into view. She wore two curved swords at her waist. She was very tall and dressed in a peculiar outfit. It was not clothing one could see anywhere around here. The assassin had a sleek figure with long legs, but in truth she was wearing very little. Her two breasts were barely covered over the important parts and seemed ready to burst free, and her long, slender legs were in much the same state. Anyone looking would have thought she was one of Louis’s sex slaves. Yet the face, the part that truly mattered, was hidden behind a strange mask, so it was impossible to tell whether she was beautiful or not. She walked forward softly, then gracefully lowered one arm and knelt.

“I am called Rin. I pay my respects to Your Grace.”

Louis looked at her expressionlessly. No sound arose. Silence. The smell of blood began to thicken. Since it seemed especially strong from the direction of the entrance, it had to be assumed that the nearby guards had all fallen to that woman. The body damaged by poison had already been fully reconstructed to its original state. It was fortunate he had consumed only a small amount; if he had drunk the whole bottle, he might have found himself in real trouble. Louis’s eyes immediately searched for a weapon. Louis was completely naked, wearing not even clothes, let alone carrying a simple dagger. As for weapons, there were two. The dagger that woman had thrown, and the wine bottle he could at least use for a moment. A wine bottle unexpectedly became a powerful weapon. Once mana was loaded into it, it was in effect no different from a deadly weapon. The problem was that the woman before him was also quite a formidable expert. She glanced at Louis, then her eyes curved with a short exclamation of admiration.

“Indeed, the sight is even more pleasing than the rumors suggested. If this were not my profession, I would sincerely wish to serve you. Ah, I suppose you cannot answer my question. In truth, even the fact that you are standing seems miraculous.”

“You used three poisons in total. One dispersed into the air, one mixed into the water. And one mixed into the red wine. What was the poison in the wine?”

“………How curious. If my senses did not deceive me, all three poisons should have taken effect, and yet you speak freely without any antidote. Could it be that I overlooked something?”

“So, what was the poison?”

“Chilbosa.”

“I was curious what sort of taste it had when Orpendius offered it to me. So this is it.”

“……….!”

She straightened her body. Her chest swayed once, but he could not afford to be distracted by that. She then drew the two curved blades hanging from her back one after the other. A chill sound rang out. True mana began to flow from her body in earnest. Louis narrowed his eyes. He checked the amount of her mana. It was 96.

Mana also began to flow in earnest from Louis’s fully recovered body. It was like a dam bursting. She clicked her tongue. Then she began spinning the curved blades in circles and, in a single breath, threw both of them at Louis. Louis looked at the curved blades splitting toward his blind spots. He tried to avoid them, but it felt a little awkward, and on looking more closely, it did not seem necessary to dodge at all. Louis twisted his body diagonally. At the same time the hot spring water surged greatly, one of the curved blades brushed past Louis. A sharp smack rang out. He had caught it. She opened her mouth in shock.

“Y-You… caught it…. Someone with no advanced training…. Impossible.”

“I needed a weapon, so this works out well.”

Louis looked at the strangely shaped curved blade. The edge was curved to a grotesque degree, and its tip was bluish. There was no doubt another deadly poison had been smeared on it. It was not a sword he recognized, and he was certain it had come from the south. Which meant that assassin had come from some distant southern country. He lightly shook it up and down, but the balance was all wrong. It seemed her statement that without training one could not properly use a curved blade was indeed true.

“……Good heavens. Even though you were poisoned….”

“……….”

She briefly slipped a hand between her breasts, took out a small medicinal pill, put it into her mouth, and chewed it. Then she drew a long dagger strapped precariously to her thigh. One hand held a curved blade, and the other held a dagger. Even in the meantime, Louis was still turning the sword over here and there. Then she lunged at Louis in an instant. Louis received her blade. In mana and swordsmanship, Louis was far above her. She was clearly a very powerful assassin, strong enough to kill Ferdinand, but the specialty listed in her information window was poison-making, and the problem was that Louis possessed a body on which most poisons did not work.

The instant the information window rang out, Louis slashed across her shoulder. He had intended to sever the arm completely, but the curved shape of the blade was the cause. Even so, it was no minor wound. Blood sprayed out, and the strange upper garment she wore as she tried to widen the distance became soaked and sticky. The blood running down the valley of her breasts made for a pitiable sight. Beneath her collarbone, her chest let out a shallow breath. Perhaps deciding to flee after just a single strike, she would not even meet Louis’s eyes. Just a moment ago, she had possessed the eyes of a hunter, but now she was exactly like a deer frozen in terror. She swiftly snatched up a pouch hanging at her waist and poured powder onto her wound. Come to think of it, her wound had already turned bluish with bruising, yet it began healing at an astonishing speed. And it was not divine power. Soon she tried to retreat, but Louis was faster. He added something larger than the wound that had only just closed. The right arm that had been attached only moments before splashed down into the water.

“Ah!”

“From now on, I’ll ask one thing at a time.”

Her eyes darted around. Corpses filled the place thanks to the poison she had spread. An expression of regret for having been too hasty rose to the surface. “The poison doesn’t work.” Muttering that shortly in self-mockery, she threw herself backward. It seemed she intended to flee to the very end, but Louis had no intention of letting her go like this. Louis closed the distance in an instant and pinned her opposite hand against the marble wall. She let out another groan.

“Are you alone?”

“……………”

She trembled intermittently once, and then blood trickled from the corner of her mouth. Her face had gone pale and dark, as though she might die at any moment. Her lips moved.

“Kiss me. Then I’ll tell you one or two things.”

“……….”

After standing still for a long while, Louis carefully removed her mask. The bare face of a foreign yet delicate woman was revealed. Judging only by her face, she would never have looked like an assassin. The blood at the corner of her mouth flowed even more heavily, and her pupils were already unfocused.

Louis knew she had died. With his finger, he opened her now blue lips. Fresh blood and dead blood mixed together and poured out. She had swallowed poison and killed herself. Louis swept his gaze around the area. Nothing caught in his senses. It seemed there had been only one assassin. Fierce noises came from outside. It was the sound of soldiers rushing in. Louis walked out in that direction. The steam thinned. Two soldiers leveled their spear shafts at Louis, then were startled and awkwardly snapped to attention. Their faces were a mess, and because their throats hurt, tears and mucus were streaming down. Beside them, eight soldiers were rolling on the floor.

“Y-Your Grace…. are you all right…….”

“I’m fine.”

“The assassin….”

“I killed her.”

In the end, one soldier could not hold out and collapsed. Seeing that, Louis ordered, “Poison has been spread. Fall back for now and summon priests and mages.” After walking past the soldiers carrying their comrades, Louis received a cloak from one of them and wrapped it around his body. When he stepped into the corridor, he saw that it too was a complete wreck. Corpses lay everywhere, and several trails and stains of blood covered the place. The smell of the paralysis poison from earlier was secretly drifting here as well.

‘There are probably more accomplices. Security will have to be strengthened.’

Hazdar looked over the goods before him. Sometime today or tomorrow, one of the great figures would die at the hands of his brother. Therefore, a sacrifice was needed to offer to the god. This place was a slave market. Slave markets existed everywhere in the world. The smell of dung from the beasts pulling the carts stabbed at the nose. Centered around a huge wagon, a great many people including Hazdar were swarming. It was like a market selling chickens, pigs, or donkeys, but inside the wagon there were humans in place of beasts, humans reduced to the appearance of animals.

“That one over there would be good. She’s healthy and young.”

The woman at Hazdar’s side said this to him. She was short, but had a well-balanced body and was a companion of his who drew attention from all around at a glance. Hazdar muttered for her to put on her hood. She seemed inwardly annoyed that she had to keep wearing this stifling hood here, unlike in the south, but after giving a quick wink, she pulled the hood over herself as Hazdar had said. After checking her, Hazdar looked at the merchandise she had recommended. The woman was in her mid-twenties. Her body was terribly thin and gaunt, yet still had flesh on it. The auction tag hanging below her had already been rising in price continuously. There were not just one or two men offering money to have her. Her eyes were fierce, and at a glance she looked like the sort of rough woman who could handle at least simple weapons. Hazdar called over the merchant and named a price. The merchant’s brows curved, and he immediately bowed and scraped.

“Other than getting a few cuts when she was caught, she’s a very fine bitch. Looks like she’s never had a child either, and her bones are sturdy. She’ll warm your nights very well. Want to feel her up?”

Hazdar shook his head, loosened his purse, and paid the price on the spot. The merchant quickly took the bundle and hid it away, then opened the wagon door. The merchant strode inside without hesitation, grabbed the woman by the hair, dragged her out, and fastened a steel collar around her neck. The handover took almost no time at all. The woman shouted in confusion, and the merchant added,

“You’ll have to train her separately. I took that out of the price, so I hope you understand.”

Hearing that, Hazdar nodded once. Only then did the merchant realize that Hazdar was a foreigner.

“Are you going to have a taste right away? I’ll lend you my wagon for one coin.”

“No.”

“I got a little greedy. Half a coin.”

“No.”

Leaving the lip-smacking merchant behind, Hazdar turned and disappeared.

Late at night. There were only four people present, including Hazdar. They lit three sticks of incense. The direction was toward their homeland. The woman had been drooling and screaming for some time now. However, her mouth had been blocked, so all that came out were muffled choking sounds, nothing more. To begin with, it would have been strange for anyone to pass through this remote path. The fact that exchange between cities had completely stopped after word spread that war was about to break out also played a part.

“Rin must have started.”

“She must have.”

“Ah, but that bitch. Should I do it?”

“No. I’ll do it.”

“Ah, right. There’s no way that poison spider could fail, so Duke Louis…. I’m a little disappointed I won’t get to see him in person. He sounded like no ordinary man. The rumors were on the level of Grand Duke Apsen.”

When the huge man finished speaking, the short, gaunt man asked Hazdar,

“I’ll proceed now, Hazdar.”

Even the giant man who had been smiling until just now turned serious, and the atmosphere became solemn enough that all of them assumed peculiar postures. Hazdar rolled up his sleeve and took out a well-sharpened dagger. Then he went to the slave, muttered something, and stabbed her in the neck in one stroke. She had no time even to scream. Blood flowed down from the cut in her throat. Before that blood could even soak thickly into the ground, Hazdar stabbed the woman in the chest once again. This time, blood poured out in torrents. The woman’s breath was cut off by shock, and the gaunt man kept chanting in a strange language while pointing at the sky. But the sky was silent.

“Uh…. huh?”

The startled man did not even ask Hazdar’s permission. He immediately searched inside his chest and pulled out a thread. It was the thread connected to Rin. That thread had been severed clean in two.

“Rin is dead.”