Three years ago, following the Griffin Academy invasion incident, the continent was plunged into turmoil.
Fortunately, the Demon King has yet to fully recover his strength. However, the Demons have truly begun to run rampant.
Fundamentally, the Demons who had previously avoided forming groups started to band together one by one and began to infringe upon the territories of other races.
Even if the inner cities within the territory were affected less, the number of attacks on merchant caravans traveling between cities increased, causing various disruptions in logistics.
This would have been quite a troubling situation for common people, especially those who lived day by day.
But fortunately, the Golden King, who is both a Sword Master and the owner of the largest merchant guild on the continent, declared war on the Demons without taking the opportunity to make a huge profit, allowing the prices to rise only slightly.
No matter how large a merchant guild might be, they could not afford to make the Golden King an enemy. Rather than creating the worst possible adversary, they chose to act with a modicum of fairness and take reasonable profits.
But where does human greed go?
The case of the upper class is an exception, but there were people scattered across the continent who did not hesitate to satisfy their own greed despite the crisis the continent faced.
In particular, the further one went from the center of the empire and the less the royal family’s gaze reached, the worse it got. Even if the emperor had absolute power, he simply didn’t have enough hands to cover all the peripheral cities.
Even the empire, which was less affected thanks to the emperor, was still affected. The smaller nations, particularly their cities, were in a worse situation.
One of these cities was Sahalran in the south.
“Preparations for the meal are complete, my lord.”
“Already? I feel hungry.”
A typically corrupt noble with a protruding stomach immediately rose from his seat and headed toward the dining room upon hearing the butler’s words.
When he arrived at the dining room and the food was served one after another, until he finished eating even the dessert, only the count himself was seated at the table.
This should have been a meal shared with his wife and children. But to him, his family had long been like strangers. They merely lived in the same house for the sake of appearances.
Despite that, the count was satisfied with the current situation.
Thanks to his alliance with the Demons, he now enjoyed a more abundant life, though he had to follow some orders. It was much easier to exploit his subjects without worrying about consequences, free from interference by his wife who was now effectively a stranger. As a result, he could live his life however he pleased, indulging in multiple women.
“By the way, I heard there were new servants who arrived today?”
“Please wait a moment, my lord. I will bring them to you right away.”
Slouching in his chair, the count let out a burp and spoke to the butler standing nearby.
After hearing the count’s words, the butler quickly left the dining room. A short time later, he returned with several women dressed in maid uniforms.
There were already more than enough maids in the count’s house. The fact that the newly hired maids were all young women needed no explanation, and everyone already knew the reason.
Even the maids entering the dining room understood the situation.
“Hmm… there are quite a few decent ones among these.”
As the count’s gaze swept over the maids, all of them bowed their heads except for one girl who, seemingly confused, raised her head and met his eyes. She trembled upon making eye contact with him.
“Hmm?”
How could the count miss such a reaction?
The count got up from his heavy body and approached the girl who had met his gaze.
Even though she belatedly bowed her head, the sight of the count’s shoes in her field of vision as she stared at the floor was enough to make her feel terrified.
“Look up.”
Instead of trembling, the blonde girl’s posture made the count even more satisfied with her. He spoke with delight.
As the blonde girl slowly raised her head, the count leisurely and openly examined her face and body.
“Good. I’ll take this one. Educate her roughly and bring her to my room later.”
Upon hearing the count’s words, a sigh of relief escaped from the other girls standing nearby. Though they knew it would be their turn eventually, the fact that it wasn’t now was a great relief.
Satisfied with this, all but one girl were content. However, there was one who sighed for a different reason and raised her hand.
“I-I’ll go instead!”
She was the silver-haired girl who had tried to comfort the seemingly youngest blonde girl just before entering.
The count turned his head, unpleasantly surprised that someone was contradicting him.
He would normally have slapped her right then, but upon seeing her silver hair, he couldn’t help but hesitate.
Because of the rumors he’d recently heard.
The rumors of a silver-haired assassin who was cutting down corrupt nobles.
Assassins were nothing to fear. The parasite embedded in his body through his pact with the Demons monitored him, but it also protected him. There was no reason to fear a mere assassin.
Moreover, there were even rumors that this silver-haired assassin was actually a hero who killed Demons.
Of course, an assassin being a hero was a ridiculous claim, so he had dismissed the idea. Still, such rumors could make for good entertainment.
If he thought of the silver-haired girl in front of him as the hero, then he could imagine himself defeating the hero. The idea of the hero groaning helplessly beneath him was enough to stir his desires.
So the count gladly overturned his earlier decision and accepted what the silver-haired girl had said.
“Kukuku… your consideration for others is much like a hero, with your silver hair. Good. Let her come instead. Tonight will be entertaining.”
After the count left the dining room with an unpleasant voice, the girl he had chosen, the blonde one, approached the silver-haired girl who had volunteered in her place.
“Why are you getting involved? It’s because of me…,”
“Haha. Ria, seeing you reminds me of my younger sibling.”
As the silver-haired girl laughed awkwardly and answered, the blonde girl named Ria scolded her instead.
“Rosie has only an older brother who fights with her all the time.”
“Ah, that’s right. I’ve already told you this, haven’t I? Anyway, don’t worry about me. I’m an adult here, so it’s my responsibility.”
Rose raised her hand and gently patted Ria’s head to reassure her. But this conversation did not last long.
“Follow me. We shouldn’t keep the count waiting.”
At the butler’s words, Rose removed her hand from Ria’s head and waved goodbye with a bright smile.
Ria knew well that this bright smile was forced just for her.
She gazed blankly at Rose, who was being led away by the butler at the end of the corridor.
*
“I never knew we had such a nice girl in our city.”
Rose’s attire was neither the maid’s uniform she had worn earlier nor the thin clothing she would need for what was to come.
She wore an adequate suit of armor. Furthermore, she even had a decent sword at her waist.
Of course, the armor was a lightweight one made of leather since a heavy suit would weigh down the girl, but it was armor nonetheless.
All of this was merely for the count’s entertainment. Since he had already decided to imagine the silver-haired girl as a hero and ravish her, he wanted her to dress like one, too.
Even when Rose was prepared, taking out her sword with the determination of d*ath and awkwardly aimed it at the count, he only became more pleased.
“Kukuku… keep going like that.”
As the count approached her, Rose swung the sword at him.
However, without much strength and with her eyes tightly shut, the swing couldn’t injure the count. Even without the power of the parasite, the count could easily subdue a single girl with his physique and the swordsmanship he had learned as part of his upbringing.
As the count grabbed her wrist, the sword she was holding fell easily and clattered to a corner of the room.
Though she had put on a brave face for Ria, like Ria, Rose was equally terrified.
Terrified to the point that no tears came as she tightly shut her eyes, waiting for the nightmare to end as quickly as possible. Just then, an unexpected voice came from a dark corner of the room, dimly lit.
“Wow, I didn’t know we had someone like you in this town. If I had known they were going to pick someone so good, I should have skipped the hair dye.”
Why was Ria’s voice coming from there? Did Rose hear it wrong? She cautiously opened her tightly closed eyes.
It wasn’t hallucination; the count also turned his head toward the direction the voice came from, gripping Rose’s wrist.
“Didn’t you….”
“Shut up. You’re disgusting.”
The frail but icy tone of her voice immediately silenced the count’s mouth.
Not only did he not dare to speak, but his body was also unable to hold itself up, collapsing into a heap on the floor, trembling uncontrollably.
Rose, who watched this scene from beside him, was instead confused.
“Ah, so I’ve heard the rumors and I don’t need to explain why I’m here, right?”
Ria, who had been hidden in the shadows, slowly crossed the room and picked up the sword Rose had dropped earlier.
Dressed in a form-fitting black outfit, Ria looked nothing like the maid she was earlier when they parted ways.
“Anyway, I won’t ask who the Demon you’ve made a contract with is, since I know there are restrictions. But since you’ve cooperated somewhat, I’ll ensure your d*ath is painless.”
Ria approached the count step by step with the sword.
“Even so, I’m thankful you had the sword prepared. I’ll have to think about how to comfort the Holy Sword this time since it’s going to complain about getting dirty again.”
At Ria’s words, both Rose and the count’s eyes moved to the sword at her waist. Sure enough, another sword was hanging there.
Is that the Holy Sword?
Isn’t the Holy Sword the weapon of a hero? If her words were true, that meant she was a hero.
Rose’s mind was already overwhelmed after the sudden appearance of someone who shouldn’t be here, Ria, who had subdued the count with just one word and was now casually approaching him with a sword.
Hearing the phrase “Holy Sword” only made it harder for her to follow Ria’s explanation.
“Rosy, can you close your eyes for a moment? Just for a little while.”
Her voice, so different from the one she used with the count, was exceedingly kind. Feeling an inexplicable sense of relief at Ria’s gentle voice, Rose followed her words and tightly shut her eyes.
A dragging sound came next. The sound stopped briefly, replaced by a short male groan. That was all.
“It’s done. You can open your eyes now.”
When she opened her eyes, she glanced around. In the corner, there was a large lump covered in blankets. Without saying anything, Rose knew who—or rather, what—was underneath the covers.
“I’m sorry. I made you experience something terrible because of me.”
The darkness of the room had made it unnoticed before, but Ria’s hair was now silver, just like Rose’s.
“No, it’s fine with me. But Ria… or Miss Ria… you’re in danger…”
Not sure whether to speak casually as before or use honorifics, Rose stumbled over her words as she continued to worry about her.
Having seen her concerned for herself amidst all her confusion, Ria—accurately, Alicia who used the alias ‘Ria’—smiled slightly and spoke.
“I already informed the Emperor, so someone will come soon to inspect the area. Both for me and for Rosy, there’s no need to worry.”
To calm the frazzled Rose, Alicia spoke in a soft voice.
And when Rose calmed down, Alicia reciprocated with a smile as well, even though it wasn’t visible due to the mask.
Staring blankly at her figure, Rose nodded.
“Thank you for stepping in for me earlier. It must have been hard for you…”
Just like Rose did earlier, Alicia slowly lifted a hand and gently patted Rose’s head as if praising her.
Although it was unusual to see her head being patted by someone younger, Rose didn’t mind at all and accepted her touch quietly.
“You take care. From now on, it’s okay to be a little selfish sometimes.”
With her purpose already achieved and the younger girl seeming to have settled down unexpectedly, Alicia stood up.
Her silhouette approaching the nearby window. Sensing her intent to leave, Rose called out to her.
“Just a moment!”
Alicia turned around to face Rose after pulling back the curtain for the window.
“Th-there…”
Having called, Rose faltered, unsure of what to say.
But then she must have remembered what she wanted to say and called out to Alicia again.
“Later… when you’ve finished what you’re doing now, could you visit the city again? I can’t do much now, but I’d really like to express my gratitude.”
At Rose’s words, Alicia didn’t answer verbally but pulled down her mask and smiled to show her gratitude. It was enough of an answer for Rose.
Only then did her figure become fully illuminated under the bright moonlight that entered the room, which had previously been too dim to see clearly.
Her silver hair, which could easily be mistaken for white for its beauty, her ruby-like red eyes, her cheerful smile as she smirked kindly, and the sword that rested naturally at her waist.
It was quite an unexpected image compared to the innocent demeanor she displayed while wearing a maid outfit.
After confirming that Rose was smiling back at her, Alicia leapt out the window.
‘She seems startled judging by her flushed face, even though she almost fell victim to the lecherous pig. Yet, she managed to remain composed all the way through. Rosy is really a strong person.’
As always, her thoughts took a somewhat odd turn.
