“Darling, if the other party isn’t sincerely trying to assault you, the task won’t count as complete. Cheating is prohibited!”
The helpless voice of the System echoed in her mind, making Ximo click her tongue in annoyance.
“You’re so demanding.”
Outside the warehouse, Xiliya had only overheard one sentence from Ximo via magic eavesdropping before she decided there was no need to listen further.
Connecting it to the earlier commission posting incident, a guess formed in Xiliya’s mind.
Was it possible that it wasn’t Ximo deliberately scheming against her, but simply that she was rather foolish?
“You don’t really think you can interrogate anything out of him this way, do you?”
A helpless voice rang out at the warehouse entrance, startling Ximo with a shiver.
“Uh,” turning around and seeing the newcomer, Ximo gave an awkward smile. “You didn’t hear that, did you?”
“It’s not— This was just to lower his guard…”
Before Ximo could fabricate an explanation, Lager beside her had already raised his newly freed hand high in surrender.
“No, no, no. If you want to interrogate me, just ask directly. I’ll tell you everything!”
Ximo paused, then tilted her head toward Xiliya… Never mind how I was interrogating—just say whether I got anything out of him or not!
“I have nothing to hide—as long as you don’t hurt me.”
Lager spoke quickly. His group had only come here because they were hired; he felt no guilt about betraying his employer.
“We were just hired to rob the chamber on West Street in the city. The employer said he’d handle getting us into the city. We just had to cause enough of a commotion here.”
As expected, Xiliya’s gaze sharpened. The Beastmen’s goal wasn’t robbery at all.
“I don’t know the employer’s details. He contacted us through…”
Lager rambled on with the information. Meanwhile, Ximo, still pondering how to complete her task, suddenly felt an odd sensation rise within her.
Almost instinctively, Ximo whipped her head around toward the warehouse corner and yanked Xiliya over.
“Miss, watch out!”
In a flash, a dagger materialized in the air, stabbing straight toward where Xiliya had stood moments ago. But Ximo was fast enough; the blade meant for Xiliya’s heart veered off course, slicing a gash across the arm Ximo had used to pull her.
“Urgh…”
Ximo’s face tightened. Xiliya reacted instantly, steadying herself while hurling a mass of magical elements toward the attack’s origin.
A magical barrier blocked Xiliya’s strike. With a “boom,” she finally spotted the assailant: a massive Beastman over two and a half meters tall, clad in a filthy cloak of beastskin. Xiliya keenly noted the necklace of carved animal skulls around his neck.
A Beastman Priest from the Beastmen Clan? How had such a huge figure hidden in the warehouse without her noticing?
The attack having failed, he didn’t linger. With a flick of his right hand, he charged toward the warehouse exit. The arriving guards couldn’t stop him; his towering form barreled straight out.
“Urgh…”
Lager’s chatter halted. The hidden weapon the attacker had flung had pierced straight through his throat. Xiliya didn’t pursue but anxiously supported Ximo, who had slumped half into her arms.
“Ximo, can you hear me?”
“Yeah… I think so?”
The System’s task completion notification rang in her mind, but Ximo had no time to rejoice. “Weird, why do I feel dizzy…”
“Ximo?”
Seeing the little maid faint in her arms, Xiliya hurriedly ordered the stunned guards nearby. “Go call a doctor! That dagger might be poisoned!”
…
“This young lady is fine. The dagger likely had only anesthetic on it, Miss Xiliya. No need to worry.”
After treating Ximo’s wound and giving her a quick check-up, the doctor withdrew, leaving Xiliya alone by the bed, her expression dark.
She lifted Ximo’s arm, and memories flooded her mind of the previous life—when she herself had been assaulted by Beastmen at the Black Currant Chamber’s estate.
What a coincidence. The location of Ximo’s injury seemed just like hers from the past life.
But in her previous life, Xiliya had never encountered that massive Beastman Priest… Thinking of the one who had clashed with her earlier, Xiliya frowned.
The City Guard had arrived and begun pursuing the Beastman, while the other Beastmen were taken into custody. Yet Xiliya’s doubts only grew.
Was it because of her rebirth that things had deviated? No… That Beastman Priest had probably been there last time too, just without a chance to appear!
The tall Beastman had used invisibility magic to lurk in hiding—from the moment those Beastmen entered the warehouse and started smashing things. In her previous life, the Beastmen had escaped smoothly, so the hidden Beastman Priest naturally stayed out of sight.
With that realization, many thoughts crystallized in Xiliya’s mind.
First, the Beastman Priest’s strength was at least at the Intermediate Mage level or higher. Invisibility magic wasn’t something low-level Mages or Priests could use, and he’d concealed himself perfectly—even she, who had hidden in the warehouse first, hadn’t sensed him.
Xiliya knew the Beastmen Clan operated on a tribal system with a backward internal structure. A Beastman of Intermediate Mage strength should hold a decent position in the tribe. He wasn’t part of the robbery crew; he belonged to the “masterminds” behind it.
Now Xiliya understood why these Beastmen, with their crude disguises, had slipped into the city: an Intermediate Mage had aided them from the shadows.
Second, the Beastmen’s goal wasn’t theft but creating a disturbance… That explained her other puzzle.
Xiliya had wondered earlier: If these Beastmen could infiltrate Camberlan City and pinpoint the West Street warehouse, why not scout ahead and hit an easier target? The Black Currant Chamber’s wine was valuable but hardly portable for a getaway.
The Textile Merchant Guild’s warehouse was also on West Street—why not rob that? Their fine silks were lighter and just as valuable.
Now she got it. The Beastmen’s initial aim was to stir up a big scene on West Street, drawing the City Guard’s attention here.
Distractions were usually for drawing forces away from somewhere else. With the City Guard focused on West Street…
Xiliya’s head snapped up as realization dawned.
What was Masha up to right now?
Masha had invited her to visit the Black Currant Chamber that evening. What if it wasn’t just to get her injured? What if it was to lure her away from the mansion at this specific time?
