Entrance to Dephel.
Two guards were checking the identities of those entering the city.
Even though I knew that giving them a few coins would get anyone without papers inside, there was no need for that, so I simply pulled out my Academy student ID. They let me pass without any hassle.
As it was the closest town to the guild’s Ajit, I’d taken advantage of it many times. Thus, even though there wasn’t a single familiar face, I knew every nook and cranny of the city streets.
However, my destination wasn’t inside the city but rather the guild Ajit outside it.
Since it wasn’t a good idea to go there in broad daylight, even if its location was supposed to be hidden, I picked a random inn and rented a room.
“Go to the middle room on the second floor. Meals are not included, so please order them yourself. If you want, you can go eat out—but there’s no place like our home.”
“Maybe I’ll let you know if anything comes to mind.”
Although I know the cooking here isn’t anything spectacular, there’s no need to point it out. It’s not so bad that I can’t eat it.
With the key in hand, I climbed up to find a small room containing a worn-out bed, a tiny table, and a single hanger for clothes—pretty much the minimum one could expect from a room.
Back in my assassin days, I would have been thankful just for having a private room like this, but the few months at the Academy have killed all such sentiments.
I threw my small bundle of belongings onto the table and lay down on the bed. A dusty smell intruded on my nose—not that it was a magic smell, just that the bedspread had some dust.
I waved the dust away with a flick of my hand and got up from the uncomfortable seat.
Thinking that it would be better to go out rather than being cooped up in this worn-out cell for hours, I left the inn.
As I walked out, I could hear the innkeeper shouting in the background about how great their food was. I pretended not to hear and stepped outside.
Dephel’s streets were both familiar and strange. It had been only a few months since I was last here, but some shops had gone out of business, while others were expanding much larger than before.
I stopped by a weapon shop to get my sword serviced, browsed a bookstore, picked up a novel but decided not to buy it when I saw the price, and had a quick drink at a cafe while the day passed. Before I knew it, evening had fallen.
Time to return and prepare properly for my outing.
When I got back to the inn, the owner asked if I would eat dinner there. By the third time he asked, I finally relented.
“Please recommend something simple within three silver coins.”
“Oh, you’re more generous than I thought, Young Lady. By the way, wouldn’t you like this?”
The innkeeper asked while rotating his wrist in front of my face.
Being of age where drinking wouldn’t raise eyebrows, it wasn’t an issue, but since I planned to visit the ajit soon, it wasn’t necessary to touch alcohol.
“I don’t need it.”
“Okay. Just wait a moment. I’ll bring out my finest!”
Then, he disappeared into the kitchen after handing over the counter to his wife, who was tidying up the tables.
This big guy cooking? It’s hard to picture in my head.
After some waiting, delicious scents wafted out of the kitchen, and soon an array of plates was set before me.
At first, I wondered why he had called me “generous” just for ordering food, but then I realized that my sense of monetary value had been somewhat skewed.
At the Academy, the cheapest dish costs one silver coin, and the meals I usually share with my friends are typically five silver ones.
Even the cheapest option at the Academy would be considered quite a good meal for an ordinary person.
So, when a woman alone ordered a three-coin meal, it seemed a bit extravagant.
The innkeeper, considering this situation, focused on quality over quantity, yet even with that, it felt like a bit much for one person alone.
However, after tasting a spoonful of the soup, a forkful of potatoes, and a piece of meat, my thoughts changed.
Though my memory of this inn’s cuisine wasn’t particularly great before, the meal I was eating now could easily outshine most restaurant chefs.
“So, how about it? You’re lucky you didn’t eat elsewhere today, right?”
“Not long ago, he was lamenting that the business was about to close down unless we found a new approach. Somehow, he started cooking in the kitchen and came up with this.”
It was yet another reminder of how much even a few months could change someone.
Though it’s wise to leave some room when you’re about to move, I ended up scraping my plate clean despite myself.
Having changed into my assassin attire, I went outside the city.
Despite the dark night, the guards at the city gates were still standing vigil, though sneaking out while staying concealed posed no difficulty.
I left the city and headed toward the mountains, veering off the well-trodden road.
Despite the thicker foliage than before, finding the guild ajit located halfway up the mountain wasn’t hard.
There was a small cottage in an area that wasn’t visible from the regular mountain paths.
Ugh, other assassination groups hide by running front-facing businesses, but our ajit looks like this.
Not that we were flooded with assassination requests anyway—there were hardly any—but we could’ve been better off if we’d had side businesses. As it was, our finances were perpetually poor.
In reality, it looks like a simple hunter’s cabin on the outside, but the hidden basement inside is rather spacious.
Still, thinking of how everything in that basement was built through the blood and sweat of our guild’s assassins, it is quite impressive that it’s still standing.
From a safe distance, I climbed a tree to observe the surroundings.
There were no signs of the soldiers from the Deretia Family who had guarded the place previously, but, just in case, I entered stealthily.
There were no sounds of movement, and the bodies of our assassins that had been scattered around, now disappeared, left only faint bloodstains behind.
Carefully, preparing to stay up all night if necessary, I thoroughly searched the guild’s ajit.
Unless there was some secret location known only to the guild master, I had explored every place I knew, yet found no useful items.
Perhaps due to the guild’s poverty, or possibly someone had already looted it all—money or otherwise, it was all stripped bare.
The only thing I salvaged from a hidden compartment was a small badge.
This badge, bearing the insignia of a skull with a gold coin in its mouth, was worth claiming.
With it, I can genuinely enter Dephel.
Still, I cautiously checked one last time to see if the Master-Slave Scroll marked with my seal had been left anywhere, but, predictably, found nothing.
At the center of Dephel stands a building much larger and more luxurious than any other in the area. It’s even larger than the residence of Dephel’s lord.
Even during the night when everyone’s asleep, this building is dazzlingly illuminated. Thankfully, soundproofing magic prevents the noise from disturbing the neighborhood.
Inside here lies the most lavish and revolting space in Dephel.
A gambling hall where money ceases to seem as money.
Though there are various backstories, the space is legally functional, but my objective lies not in the gambling happening on the main floor but the area beneath.
In a building with maze-like hallways, I reached one secluded room. In front of the small door, burly men with an air of menace were keeping strict watch.
As I approached, they instinctively grabbed their sword hilts, but they lowered their hands promptly when I showed them the badge I had retrieved from the ajit.
Instead, they scrutinized the badge thoroughly before stepping aside.
Without even the courtesy of opening the door for me, I found a staircase leading downwards once I opened it.
I had only visited this place once before, when accompanying the guild master.
In reality, until then, I hadn’t known such a place existed in Dephel or that entry required a badge.
The underground of the building, the underground of Dephel, has everything.
A vast illegal gambling den that dwarfs anything on the surface, an auction house for goods of dubious origin, humans reduced to mere toys and sold off, and even brothels where bodies are bought and sold for obscene prices for a single night—all of this is housed here.
Our assassin guild wasn’t struggling for nothing, given the shadowy nature of Dephel.
There weren’t just assassins; due to this underground world, we weren’t the only assassination guild operating here.
With mutual competition, we ended up taking low-level jobs, constantly being outdone by others, which is why a request to assassinate an Elf, a Selian, had become a matter of life and death for the guild.
Of course, that’s all in the past.
I asked the nearby guide and made my way to the shop I needed.
When I arrived, it was a general store.
True to its name, it buys and sells anything and everything. Here, the owner doesn’t question illegal or dangerous goods, and as long as it’s what the customer wants, they will sell anything—be it a person, an item, or information.
After waiting briefly with assistance from a clerk, I was led into the room where transactions take place.
Aside from a slightly dimmer lighting, the illegal trading space looked much like an ordinary shop.
The moment I entered and saw the salesperson’s face, I couldn’t help but hesitate.
“Is there something wrong, ma’am?”
It was the Elf who had tried feeling my thigh on the carriage earlier.
…No, why would an Elf be at a place like this?
