The information obtained from the assassin guild was not particularly useful.
It was only that a person named Walker became an assassin.
After that, we visited a few more places, but all we heard was that they couldn’t help us.
“Loyalty among assassins…”
That was the last thing I heard in the guild.
A land that had been a lawless zone for a long time now had its own criminal regulations.
I was worried about how to find Walker and then a thought came to me.
I whispered my plan into Aila’s ear.
“Do you think this will work?”
“Let’s give it a try.”
Aila decided to wait a little farther away, and I entered an assassin guild alone.
I showed them Roran’s gold and silver coins along with a photo and spoke.
“We will definitely fulfill our promise!”
I recalled the stories I had heard from Charles before.
Roran’s currency was highly valued in Latnia.
Although it couldn’t be used as proper currency, it would seem like a fortune to criminals who were doing something extraordinary.
Payment would be given once the job was completed.
Thanks to the blacklist, the initial work progressed smoothly.
“Now let’s go back to the inn and wait.”
“Wait a second. We might be suspected if we go together.”
Aila and I split up in the southern region and returned to different places.
“So, you came to me?”
“Yeah. I can’t send Aila to you.”
I had found Roxi’s house.
Being an assassin guild, they would certainly conduct some backtracking of the clients.
Upon hearing my plan, Roxi sighed and let me into the room.
“So, do you think the plan will succeed?”
“I don’t know yet.”
“But how will you contact me?”
I had no worries about that.
I had a tracking magic I learned a long time ago.
Tracking magic can share the view of the opponent as well.
“That’s a good idea.”
“So, I’ll be in your care for a while.”
Roxi nodded and lay down on her bed.
“Are you going to sleep at this hour?”
“It’s night for me now.”
Then she quickly fell asleep.
While staying at Roxi’s house, I wandered around the city whenever I had the chance.
It was partly to avoid disturbing Roxi, who was sleeping during the day, but also because I needed to gather information.
On the third night, as I shared a scene with her, I dashed out of Roxi’s house.
The location was a dark alley.
Though I had memorized the streets while going around, this alley was one I hadn’t seen before.
In the shared scene, two people were facing each other wearing masks.
Because they were both masked, I couldn’t tell if they were even talking.
I raced through the city frantically, chasing Aila’s location.
The tracking magic felt like it was closing the distance.
I arrived at a place slightly outside the city center where there weren’t many people.
The only structure in sight was a large warehouse.
Walker and Aila were definitely confronting each other nearby.
Crash!
As I turned my gaze toward the sound of clashing blades, someone burst out of the alley.
“You’re late, Ririan.”
It was Aila.
Following her, a figure holding a longsword and a dagger in each hand slowly walked out.
“Girl, two.”
Swish!
He threw the dagger he held at me.
It wasn’t fast, so as I tried to dodge, Aila shouted.
“Get farther away!”
Boom! Bang!
As the dagger stuck into the ground, it exploded with a red light.
I rolled on the ground several times due to the explosion.
“Aah… my clothes got dirty.”
“You survived the explosion?”
He sounded a bit flustered.
Though I resembled a human due to the transformation potion, my nature had not changed.
Ordinary explosions couldn’t easily injure me.
Unless it was a magical explosion with contained mana or something stronger.
He pulled out another dagger from his pocket and grasped it in his hand again.
“Two against one, no matter how you think about it, I’ll be at a disadvantage.”
“Pay for your sins with death.”
“Sins? As I said earlier, the one who got tricked is the fool.”
The opponent was already intent on killing us.
It was a fight that wouldn’t end until one of us died.
He threw the dagger, but not towards me and Aila, but toward the warehouse.
The dagger exploded upon entering the warehouse.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Sudden footsteps echoed from inside the warehouse, and soon someone swung a sword at me.
Crash!
“Isabel. Kill those two.”
“Yes, master. Will there be a reward if I do?”
“Sure. I’ll give you whatever you like.”
The moon, which had been covered by clouds, revealed itself, illuminating the surroundings.
What appeared in that light was a girl of similar build to me.
“A kid?”
“Why are you surprised? You’re a kid too.”
Her purple eyes shone as she stared intently at me.
“Master, I like her.”
“No. Kill her.”
“Then, can I play with her a bit?”
“If you want to be punished.”
Isabel drew her sword, which was stuck in the ground, and pointed it at me.
“Come on, let’s play together.”
Click!
Swoosh!
They say the first strike wins.
I dropped lightning onto the girl above her head.
“Ow… that hurts.”
Boom!
Despite being struck by lightning, the girl shuddered slightly and swung her sword at me.
“I’ll show you lightning too.”
With a small battle cry, I saw lightning accumulate on her sword.
Sizzle! Sizzle!
In the moment the girl struck a pose, she vanished from my sight.
“First, one!”
Swish!
With a sudden burning pain on my back, a chilling sensation spread throughout my body.
“Two!”
The following attack slashed my side from behind.
Slash!
As I touched my side, which felt hot, blood began to ooze out.
It seemed impossible to receive these attacks with my body, so I hurriedly grasped a dagger.
“I’m sure I cut you well. You’re really sturdy, huh?”
“Who are you?”
“I’m Isabel. And you?”
“Do you think I asked for your name?”
The girl withdrew the lightning from her sword and ignited a fire in one hand.
“I’ll heal your wounds.”
As she brought the flames she lit to her sword, it ignited fiercely.
In that moment, the sight looked very familiar to me.
Magic and swordsmanship.
“Are you perhaps a magic swordsman?”
“Yeah. Everyone calls me that.”
A troublesome opponent.
I wondered if I could beat her with my current abilities.
“Shall I come at you?”
With a blank expression, she swung her sword at me.
Clash!
Using the dagger, I blocked the girl’s sword and immediately threw a punch.
Pow!
“Ow! That hurts!”
The girl kicked me in the abdomen and created some distance between us.
Right now, my strength was akin to an ordinary human child.
I felt a little strange that it still hurt when I got hit.
If it were magic, that could explain it, but she should have trained her body while learning swordsmanship too.
For some reason, the girl seemed to be in considerable pain.
I quickly pulled out the gun I had stashed away and aimed it at the girl.
“Eek!”
At that, the girl crouched down, covering her head with an expression of fear.
“Put it away! I said put it away!”
“Isabel! Get a hold of yourself! Kill her!”
Walker shouted harshly at Isabel, who was confronting Aila.
As pathetic as it was, if I didn’t shoot, I would die.
Bang!
The sound of a single gunshot rang out, and the girl screamed in fear and pain.
“L-Let me go! It hurts!”
When I shot a round at her, she clutched her leg and started to cry tears like a chick.
A victory obtained by sheer luck.
“Tsk. Useless girl.”
Walker retrieved several daggers from his pocket and threw them on the ground, which exploded, releasing a huge cloud of smoke.
Visibility was blocked, and when the smoke cleared, Walker had already disappeared.
“Looks like he’s an excellent runner.”
“But at least we didn’t come away empty-handed.”
Aila looked at Isabel, who was collapsed on the ground.
“Now, bind her.”
What Aila handed me was a very familiar item.
Clink!
The performance was already proven once.
Since I couldn’t let her die like this, I lightly healed Isabel’s leg.
After a moment, Isabel came to her senses and looked at us with a blank expression.
“Where’s my master…?”
“He abandoned you and fled.”
“I see. I need to find a new master.”
Unexpectedly, Isabel didn’t seem to be looking for the escaping Walker.
Bound in shackles, she wouldn’t attack us.
For now, I decided to take Isabel back to the inn to interrogate her.
Upon arriving at the inn, I seated Isabel in a corner.
“We have many questions, so can you answer them well?”
When Aila asked in a gentle voice, Isabel stared at her with hollow eyes.
“Okay, Ririan, I’ll leave it to you.”
Aila, who entrusted the interrogation to me, entered the bathroom to wash up.
“Shall we start with something easy? Tell me your name and affiliation.”
“Isabel. I think I was born in Midlen.”
I had read about it in a book while in Tolis.
An independent nation not affiliated with either empire.
It was a place so small in territory that it was even debatable whether it could be called a nation.
“What’s your relationship with Walker?”
“He was my master. But I’ve been abandoned now.”
“How did you meet?”
“I was begging in Sebi, and he picked me up.”
With Isabel’s skill, she could have entered a place like the mercenary guild.
I asked why she ended up begging.
“I was hungry.”
“Why not just work?”
“Who would hire me?”
It was clear that any nation would chase away a child of Isabel’s age who came looking for work.
The reason I was able to work in Hecar was that I was with Aila, who was relatively close to adulthood.
If a child came alone, no one would have hired her.
“Where does Walker live?”
“I don’t know. I was always waiting in the warehouse. But he sometimes brought me bread.”
“Sometimes?”
“Yeah, he would break one loaf and give me a chunk each day. It was really delicious!”
One loaf of bread was already quite large, about the size of two adult fists.
I was shocked that he only brought that once in a while and left her with it for days.
“Does that not make you hungry?”
“If you don’t behave, you won’t get the bread!”
The price of one loaf was 1 Cooper. If he managed to feed and use her with just that, it was outrageously cheap.
While the interrogation continued, Aila came out of the bathroom.
“The atmosphere is nice. Did you find anything useful?”
“Nothing particularly useful. She doesn’t know anything.”
Since she was in shackles, she likely wouldn’t be able to lie.
