The Devotion Of Assassin Edgar

The Royal Capital in the morning.

Liricia and I were walking along a cobbled back alley.

I had heard from the witch how to make the rejuvenation cheaper, and the beautiful elf woman Cheryl had asked me to rescue the elf girl Teti.

The problem was that we did not have the slightest clue for either of those things.

“What are we supposed to do about this, Liricia?”

“I do not even know where to start… I am sorry.”

“It is like trying to catch clouds, after all. Maybe we should at least go to the library and see… huh?”

Bathed in the sunlight pouring down from high in the sky, I made my way back to the front of the shop.

There, a tall, lanky man, Edgar, was hiding by the side of the shop.

He must have rushed over straight out of bed, because his shaggy black hair was sticking out like a bird’s nest.

He noticed me and bowed his head.

“Alec, Liricia, thank you so much for the medicine! It worked in one shot! It was amazing!”

“I am glad to hear that. So it really could be used as proper medicine.”

“Huh!? You had not even tested it yet!? I was the guinea pig!? I am honored to be Test Subject Number One!”

Edgar bowed his head again.

—Wait, is that really something to be happy about?

While I was still bewildered, Liricia smiled.

“Hehe, he is joking. Both Master and I have already used it once.”

“Right, of course—figures, that is so like you, Alec!”

…For some reason Edgar was flattering me an awful lot.

Was he always like this?

In fact, it sounded oddly frivolous, like he did not really mean it.

Then Edgar bowed his head again, so deeply his waist nearly bent double.

“And I heard from the kids. Thank you for saving their lives.”

—Ah, so that was why.

Just as I was starting to understand, Edgar slowly lifted his face.

His black eyes, hidden behind his bangs, watched Liricia and me as if gauging our reactions.

“So, I have a little favor to ask… would that be all right?”

“You too, huh. —All right, let us hear it inside the shop.”

“Thank you.”

I unlocked the door to the shop and went inside.

Edgar followed us in and closed the door.

Then he immediately stood at rigid attention.

Maybe because he was usually so hunched over, standing straight made him look even taller.

“Back in the distant eastern land called the Yamata Kingdom, I used to do the kind of work an assassin does.”

““What!?””

We were both taken aback by the sudden confession.

Edgar lowered his eyes to the floor beneath his bangs and went on, unconcerned.

“But I slipped out of the country on my own, so now I am a wanted man. If they catch me, it is the death penalty. If they hear that I am in this country working as the adventurer Edgar, they will come to kill me as early as tomorrow. There is a bounty on my head. If you tell them my real name is Azuma, that should get the message across.”

“…Why are you suddenly dumping such a heavy secret on us?”

“This is rather bewildering, Edgar.”

Liricia and I answered, still confused.

Then Edgar lowered his hips and spoke.

“Sorry. My line of work makes me good at hiding my own secrets and exposing other people’s, but I am terrible at actually telling someone my secrets…”

“Did something happen?”

In response to my question, Edgar lowered himself even more and held out his clenched right hand.

“The reason I told you my secret first is because I learned something that could be fatal for you two, and I wanted you to trust me.”

With that, Edgar opened his right hand.

Between his fingertips he was pinching a white feather.

“Ugh!”

“Ah!”

Liricia and I both gasped.

It was a white feather we had seen many times before.

It looked like a bird’s feather, but the pale blue phosphorescent glow it gave off left no room for excuses.

“Sorry, my hands have sticky fingers. No matter the situation, even standing at death’s door, never giving up on that last move is just how my profession works… so I am going to say it—Liricia, you are an angel, are you not?”

As soon as he said that, Edgar snapped the white feather he held between his fingers toward Liricia.

Liricia’s white habit swayed as she flailed her hands in a panic.

She tried to swat the feather aside, but it was drawn into her supple palm.

“Ah…”

Liricia’s face twisted as if she were about to cry.

—There was no talking our way out of it now.

Come to think of it, that was right.

When we saved Edgar on the lowest floor of the dungeon, Liricia had still been in her angel form!

For him to have grabbed and stolen a feather in a state where he had clearly been on the verge of death…

This guy might be above A-rank, not just A-rank.

Liricia and I traded bewildered looks, but no answer came.

We had no choice but to give up and admit it honestly.

“Yes, that is right. Liricia is an angel. Strictly speaking, she is a fallen angel.”

“I knew it. Thank you for telling me.”

Letting joy seep into his voice, Edgar dropped to both knees on the floor.

““Huh?””

—At this point his actions and words were so unexpected that all we could do was be swept up in surprise.

Right in front of us, Edgar put his hands on the floor and bowed his head.

“I have a favor to ask. The reason I was willing to risk death to flee my country was to bring a deceased Princess back to life. I have spent eight years saving up the money. But it seems that while we were fleeing, she dropped her soul… and only an angel can search for a soul that is wandering without ascending to heaven. Please, I beg you, find the Princess’s soul! I will do anything!”

Edgar, who had always spoken in such a calm voice until now, pushed his voice out as if he were about to cry as he pleaded.

—If he was this desperate, I wanted to help him…

But this was not my field, so I looked to Liricia.

Her violet eyes were moist as she nodded. She seemed willing.

“All right, I understand. If it is something Liricia and I can do, we will help.”

At my words, Edgar jerked his head up.

His black, bird’s-nest hair shook.

“Thank you! I will spend my whole life repaying this debt! To prove I am not lying, I will pay you in advance! Ask me for anything, as many times as you want!”

Edgar bowed his head over and over.

That said, having it thrown at me so suddenly left me at a loss.

“Anything, huh… what should I even ask for?”

“In that case, how about asking him to search for that?”

“Ah, that.”

Liricia and I nodded to each other.

Still in his full prostration, Edgar shuffled forward.

“What is it? I am great at finding things! Just say the word!”

“We are looking for legendary items: the Philosopher’s Stone, the Gem of Light, and the Bust of the Evil God… do you know anything about them?”

Edgar gulped.

“I have only heard the name of the Stone… and even then, the Philosopher’s Stone is a phantom item that might not even exist, right? I have never heard of the other two. Without any leads, even I would…”

—Well, that figured.

Since Edgar seemed troubled, I made another suggestion.

“Then how about this? Apparently there is some scumbag in this country buying up unconditional slaves and treating them horribly. He even bought one that cost seven million Gort, so he has to be either extremely rich or a noble. —Could you investigate that?”

The tall Edgar stood up and answered in a bright voice.

“That will be a piece of cake! I will be right back!”

The moment he finished speaking, he opened the shop door and dashed out.

He was fast.

I looked at Liricia.

We were probably both wearing wry smiles.

“I had thought he was rather unmotivated, but it turns out he actually has a very passionate heart.”

“He was not what I expected… but thanks to this, we will probably be able to obtain an unconditional slave in the near future. Edgar seems highly capable, so he will get it done.”

“Yes. I am truly glad. It sounds like we may be able to save those poor slaves who are being abused… after that, we just need to prepare a world map and use magic to search for the Princess’s soul Edgar mentioned…”

Suddenly, the shop door clacked open.

Edgar came back, his messy hair bouncing.

“Hm, what is it? Forget something?”

“No, I already checked it out—confirmed that he is abusing slaves to death. Here is his home address, here is his villa, this is the list of where his slaves are being kept. This one shows where he buried the slaves he disposed of, and lastly these are the names and addresses of his partners in crime.”

He held out sheets of paper and documents covered in notes.

I took them from him in shock.

“That was fast! It has not even been a minute! You are kidding me!?”

“No, this is literally the kind of work I did back in my country. Besides, in this nation no one is guarding against the techniques I use. It is easier than tearing paper.”

Edgar said, scratching his head.

Liricia and I went over the documents and notes.

There was enough evidence gathered that we could take this straight to the courthouse and have the man condemned.

All we could do was be exasperated and impressed at the same time.

“Just how competent are you… you could do all kinds of other jobs.”

“If I did, I would be found out and the people chasing me would come. —But I wanted you to know how serious I am, Alec. From here on out, I will give my all to anything you ask of me.”

From beneath the bangs that hid his eyes, Edgar looked at me with earnest black eyes.

I thought that he seemed like someone I could trust.

Though, given my own lack of common sense, my judgment might be a bit risky.

After that, I lowered my gaze to the documents in my hands and read through them.

Then something caught my eye.

“Looks like there is a party today.”

“Yes. A so-called ‘Gathering to Appreciate Slaves’—in other words, an abuse party.”

At those words, a nameless emotion welled up inside me.

I clenched the documents tightly in my hand and stuffed them roughly into my pack.

“Let us go…”

“Yes, Master!”

Liricia drew her well-shaped brows together and hefted her flail.

Picking up on our intent, Edgar spun around and spoke.

“I will guide you.”

We left the shop.

It was midday in the Royal Capital.

The three of us walked side by side down a deserted back alley.

A sudden gust of wind blew from nowhere, sending a wooden bucket rolling along.

Without realizing it, all three of us had taken on grim expressions.