400: A Perfected Assassin
I stayed at Marta’s cabin for one more day.
I buried her and Gustav’s bodies, and without touching the money, I took only food and clothes.
My wound, and my entire body, which I had moved so forcefully, ached, but I could manage to walk.
The technique of wrapping a cloth infused with mana around my body and controlling it from the outside might have its risks, but it might also be effective. This time, it had been more like moving it from the outside, but if I got used to synchronizing it with my own movements, the pain would probably lessen, and my movements would improve.
If only I were a perfected assassin. If only I were a mere tool.
Now, even with a little skill, I was just a subordinate. A tool, to be used and discarded.
“…………”
Before I left, I placed a white flower at the base of the staff I had set up as a grave marker.
—I saw a stone wall, hazy in the sand of the wasteland.
I let out a sigh of relief.
I had bypassed the walls of Fort Litalside and had climbed the edge of the Lital Mountains. It was a steep, rocky mountain with no real path, and there were watchtowers, but in my current condition, climbing the mountain was easier than climbing the wall with a rope.
At the watchtower, I gave my name and my—public—military registration and waited for verification.
While there was a guard, after the illusion magic check was over, they no longer seemed to be on alert. Since I was near my limit, I borrowed a blanket and, while wrapped in it, I sat on a bench and leaned against the stone wall.
For a moment, I wondered what it would be like if I were a doppelganger. Even at the heavily guarded border of Litalside, this was the situation.
Among the humans, ‘demons’ stood out. A beastman woman would probably be the least conspicuous, but even then, it was not easy to hide her ears and tail. And for that rare race, with its perfect transformation ability, which could imitate everything from appearance to magical signature, without being caught by any magical checks…
—I thought for a moment, but I remembered the fact that they had no combat ability. I had also heard that their mana capacity was low, so an infiltration into enemy territory would be arduous.
“—Lizlit Finis… is it?”
I couldn’t tell the intent behind the flat voice, but since my name had been called, I looked up.
I realized that the guard was gone. And in his place, a single person was standing.
“…Yes.”
The dark brown hooded cloak was long, reaching her ankles. The face that was visible was brown-skinned, with black hair and black eyes. Her ears were hidden by the hood, but from the way it bulged, and from the color of her skin, she was probably a dark elf. From her features, she was probably a woman.
No more information entered my head. Even though her face was exposed, if I were to see her walking down the street with her hood down, I wouldn’t be able to recognize her. In fact, even though she was standing right in front of me, I wanted to doubt my own senses. It was as if I were talking to a painting on a wall.
“I will state only my affiliation. …I am from the Royal Guard.”
The Royal Guard. An elite unit directly under Your Majesty the Demon King, which maintained a small, elite force of about five hundred, though the number varied from time to time.
And I had a hunch. —An assassin. An inhabitant of the twilight, who lived in the shadows and died in the shadows. And a ‘perfected’ one.
“I have a few questions for you. First. —The success or failure of your ‘mission.’”
“In the southern district of the Garnalk region, I have killed the lord. And one of his guards.”
I didn’t mention that I had been sheltered by a human. Or that I had killed the thieves. That had nothing to do with the ‘mission.’ Like the sentries. There were ‘lives not worth reporting’ to us assassins.
“It seems it took you a while to return.”
“Because I was injured.”
“I see. …The extent of your injuries?”
“They are not life-threatening, but I would like to receive treatment at the infirmary later.”
“Permission granted. …Let me confirm. You really carried out the mission ‘alone’?”
“…Yes.”
Marta’s face flashed through my mind. But that was not a mission. We were not supposed to have met.
“…Crazy. To infiltrate a heavily guarded enemy territory alone, without backup, and to assassinate a target along with his guard, even though you’re still a rookie.”
I heard a muttered voice, but I couldn’t quite understand it. If my consciousness was not directed at her, then not just my eyes, but my ears, too, refused to acknowledge her existence.
“—By regulation, a mental magic assessment of your military achievement will be conducted, but as an individual, let me say this first. …I commend you for completing your mission under difficult circumstances.”
“Yes. …Thank you.”
To have my actions praised… to be properly evaluated by the ‘higher-ups’… was perhaps a first for me.
“However, this matter has been deemed a problem.”
“…A problem?”
“There was no official order.”
“…………”
Since I wasn’t using a mental adjustment spell, had it shown on my face? Even without it, I tried to not show any change in my emotions during a mission. But since I was tired, it might have shown on my face.
“There is no order, and it is not on the record.”
In other words, what I had done—was to have gone to enemy territory on my own, without an order, and to have committed a murder, even if it was an enemy citizen, without fulfilling my duties in the military (such as guarding the fortress). If a punishment were to be handed down, it would probably be the death penalty. Her attitude was so perfect that I couldn’t read the intent behind her flat words, or what the outcome of this conversation would be.
I didn’t even have the energy to resist. The direct intervention of an assassin required a sense of balance. The chances of success, of course, but even if you succeeded, you didn’t know if it would be effective, or if it would just fan the flames of the enemy’s will to fight.
An assassin could not kill all of humanity. All we could do… was to buy time. I sometimes felt a sense of emptiness, as if I were scooping water with a leaky cup. To buy time here—what were we waiting for? An opportunity? A miracle?
…A hero?
The national army had been strengthening since its founding, but its forces had been whittled down in the occasional battle for Litalside, and in the end, it had only been able to maintain a slow status quo. For nearly three hundred and sixty years since its founding, the border had not changed. The army, too, had not changed. Your Majesty the Demon King commanded five supreme commanders, and each of them led the First through the Fifth Armies. That was all.
…And yet, the human nations had repeated their consolidations and had accumulated their national strength, and had become more refined.
The Battle of Litalside might even be the last, with the ‘sixth.’ And even if they managed to get through the ‘sixth.’ What about the next… the ‘seventh’?
We, who were long-lived, could become stronger than the humans. But the death of a single ‘veteran’ was a heavy blow. There were no warriors from the founding of the nation left, except for the undead and the demons of the Fourth and Fifth Armies, and even they were few in number.
My desire to protect this country had not changed. And yet, if the order I had followed was not a proper one, and if that was a reason for punishment… then I had no regrets.
“However, we will not blame you. There was a fact that such an order was given verbally, and it has been confirmed as an operational action by order.”
“…Is that so?”
I was a little relieved. This country was not… completely rotten.
“The one who gave the order has been ‘disposed of.’”
The nature of the ‘disposition’—I could guess. It was not so much that I was relieved… But to think that I would no longer have to listen to the orders of that ‘superior,’ which could not even be called orders, I felt a little of the tension leave my shoulders.
“And in response to that, I will convey a transfer order.”
“Yes.”
“Lizlit Finis is hereby ordered to be transferred to the Royal Guard.”
“…Me?”
“You have the right to refuse. —We do not need those who are not motivated.”
“No, I will accept the transfer order. But… may I ask the reason for the transfer?”
“…………”
She fell silent. And again, she muttered.
“Huh? To be treated as if it’s strange that you didn’t die, and to not only not die but to carry out the order, you don’t realize how abnormal that is? Well, from the looks of it, you probably don’t… My junior is too perfect as an assassin, it’s scary.”
“…?”
Again, I couldn’t grasp the meaning of her words. Not only could I not understand the meaning, but I couldn’t even remember the words as sounds, and they slipped from my mind.
Was this some kind of a test—? If I couldn’t hear it, then the transfer to the Royal Guard would be canceled. I thought for a moment, but that didn’t seem to be the case.
She seemed to be watching my reaction for a moment, and then she turned her attention back to me and returned to a way of speaking that I could understand.
“You have achieved results, even under unreasonable circumstances. We have recognized your potential. The Royal Guard is always in need of excellent personnel. …We also have a side as a training unit.”
To act as a virtual enemy in training, and to raise the overall level. That was a training unit.
“…Can I do it?”
“I believe so.” She replied immediately and nodded firmly.
Her movements were easy to understand… and my chest grew a little warm.
“Lizlit Finis, we of the Royal Guard assassins welcome you.”
Her words were flat. But I could clearly feel the welcome in them.
Could I, too… become like this?
I was a single dagger. What I could do on my own was probably limited. And yet. The time we had bought. The someone we had trained. I hoped that it would be something meaningful, in the future.
—On the way to the infirmary, my ‘senior’ spoke.
“…By the way, I hear you have experience fighting a Black Hound Barghest.”
“Yes. Though I don’t like to remember it.” I could have died, and it was not a good memory.
“You encountered a pack of twenty… no, you were used as a decoy, and you defeated half of them by yourself. Is that true?”
“It is. The other ten were taken care of by the others.”
“…To be used as a decoy, to be bitten, and to still be able to defeat ten of them, what does that mean? A Black Hound Barghest is supposed to be one of the last opponents an assassin would want to fight, though a Dark Knight or a beastman warrior might be a different story. I mean, is this child really an assassin? She’s too much of a frontal assault type.”
“…?”
Again, I couldn’t quite hear her.
