Two Creeping Shadows

The gaze Vim had felt earlier was no illusion. There were indeed people keeping tabs on his party.

“That guy just looked right over here! And with an absolutely terrifying look on his face, too!” said a pale-skinned woman with short, cropped red hair.

“Yeah. I thought I had completely erased my presence, though,” replied a muscular man, who also had red hair.

“Is that guy really as dangerous as they say?”

“Nah, he’s probably still only half-suspecting. If we strike when he completely drops his guard, we have a fighting chance.” The red-haired man smirked. “If we manage to assassinate him, we’ll get enough money to live in luxury for the rest of our lives. You couldn’t ask for a sweeter deal.”

“True that. But is he really worth that much?”

“Right now he’s an S-rank adventurer, but apparently he used to be a court mage for the Empire before that. Well, I’m sure there’s plenty going on behind the scenes.”

“Makes sense.”

“Still, none of that matters right now. All we need to do is assassinate him.”

Given his position, there were plenty of people who didn’t think highly of Vim. This wasn’t the first or second time he had been targeted. He had become quite a prime target.

Eventually, the sun dipped below the horizon, shrouding the surroundings in darkness. Two shadows moved through the silence.

“This is the place. Stay sharp.”

“Right.”

The two red-haired assassins slipped into the inn where Vim was staying. Then, the two shadows silently entered Vim’s room.

“Well, that was a letdown. I thought he’d put up more of a fight.”

“This job was a breeze.”

““Die!””

The two assassins thrust their knives deep into the mound beneath the bedsheets.

“What?!”

The assassins’ faces contorted in shock. Naturally, the sensation of the strike didn’t feel like hitting a human body at all.

“What are you two so surprised about?” a menacing voice rasped from behind them.

“Vim Abel…”

Vim curled the corners of his mouth up at the two assassins. The pair instinctively took a step back from his dark smirk.

“It was blindingly obvious that you guys were watching me.”

“I guess it wasn’t going to be that easy after all.”

The red-haired man pulled out another knife. “We really need you dead, you see.”

With that, he lunged straight forward with his knife.

“Are you really supposed to be an assassin?”

Vim caught the knife thrust toward his face by pinching it firmly between his index and middle fingers.

“I-it won’t budge!”

“Well, yeah, because I’m holding it.”

In an instant, Vim closed the distance between them and drove his fist straight into the man’s solar plexus.

“Gah…!”

The air was knocked clean out of the man’s lungs, and he collapsed onto the floor, curling into a ball.

“You bastard… aren’t you supposed to be a mage?!”

“Is there a rule saying a mage can’t use martial arts?” Vim gave him one more kick, and the man went quiet.

“Next up is you.” Vim locked his gaze on the red-haired woman.

“Wait.”

“Not waiting.”

Vim grabbed her arm and hurled her straight against the wall. She slumped down and stopped moving, likely knocked unconscious.

“What’s all the racket?”

“Lord Vim, are you alright?”

Having caught the noise, Hana and Misa—who must have been resting in the adjacent room—rushed in.

“I’m fine. More importantly, go fetch someone from the Order of Knights.”

“Understood!” At his request, Hana hurriedly left the room.

“Who are they?”

“They seem to be assassins. They came to kill me, so I just turned the tables on them.”

“Who on earth would want to kill you, Lord Vim?”

“It’s probably the handiwork of someone from the Empire.” Vim had a pretty good idea who might be behind this.

“From the Empire…?”

“Yeah. I heard once that the Empire has a specialized assassination unit to eliminate anyone who poses a threat to their national interests.”

“I’ve heard rumors about that as well,” Misa noted. She used to live in the Empire herself. On top of that, as a former Imperial Guard, she had held a respectable rank, so it made sense that she had at least caught wind of such talk.

“But does such an organization actually exist?”

“Honestly, I don’t know either. Though we might find out if we grill these two.” Vim looked down at the unconscious pair.

“Lord Vim, I’ve brought the knights!” Hana returned, leading members of the Order of Knights.

“Restrain these two, please. They tried to kill me.”

““Understood!””

The three knights efficiently bound the intruders and marched them away.

“Still, I can’t imagine the Empire would want to cause trouble within the Gryphinto Empire…” Hana said.

Indeed, an agent of one nation causing an incident in another could easily escalate into an international dispute.

“To them, ensuring my death is probably more important than that.”

While they couldn’t touch him while he was in Leoria, security would naturally be more relaxed while he was traveling through a foreign country. It was exactly the kind of logic the fools in the Empire would come up with.

“Well, time to get some proper sleep. We have another early morning tomorrow.”

“I don’t know how you can sleep so calmly after all that.”

“Well, I haven’t slept yet tonight.” Vim had stayed awake specifically to intercept them. “You two should get some proper rest as well.”

“Yes, we will.”

Vim climbed into bed and soon let his consciousness fade away.