Chapter 10: Financially Challenged and Utterly Evil (Part 1)
“Bang, bang!” Just as Commander Rodris’s thoughts were still whirling, he suddenly heard a sickening crack, like bone breaking. The sound came from the knight closest to him, sending a chill up his spine. He turned just in time to see the girl brutally twist both of his subordinate’s arms behind his back, using a force that clearly didn’t match her delicate frame, then she shoved his helmet-clad head down and slammed it into the ground—thud!
Amidst the cacophony, dust and rubble flew as if the whole stone house were shaking. The knight’s feet flailed upwards, his lower body lifting high off the ground, while his helmet was mangled beyond recognition, his face nearly embedded into the cracked floor. This all transpired in less than half a second… no, even less! Commander Rodris’s shock hadn’t fully registered on his face when the girl vanished into thin air again.
“Ahhhh—”
“An assassin!”
“Protect the Commander—”
“Break her— uh!”
Amidst the chaos of screams and shouts, the knights roared, scrambling to react. That last shout hadn’t even been finished when suddenly, the girl appeared right in front of the knight with his mouth agape. With her petite frame curling in mid-air, she launched a punch that practically caved in the knight’s face, turning his bones to mush and teeth flying everywhere. He staggered backward a good distance before finally crumpling to the ground.
“d*mn it…”
In the midst of the frenzy, one knight with his sword drawn cursed vehemently, a violet glow flaring from the blade. But just as the shimmer began, the girl whizzed to his side, ignoring him entirely, and delivered a third punch that sent him soaring, her feet barely leaving the ground before she transitioned to the next knight, grabbing him by the neck and slamming him into the floor like a hammer, then there was the fifth, and sixth…
With the wind swirling and her form shifting, Rodris was sluggishly rising from his chair, his eyes widening as he could only see a rapid blurring of silhouettes.
There she was, the Cloak Woman, moving so fast that she left behind trails of afterimages, like an army of clones dancing around the stone room. Each knight she passed was sent flying into the air, one after another like petals scattered by the wind. “Bang, bang, bang!” The sound of her punches hammering against armor echoed endlessly.
Three seconds… four seconds…
Finally, the man stood erect from his chair.
“That’s enough…”
He shouted, his deep-set eyes widening and veins bulging in his neck. “I said, enough—!!”
But as the words left his mouth, it was already too late.
For Commander Rodris, this bizarre sequence of events had unfolded in just the time it took for him to process what was happening, barely a moment after standing up.
He still hadn’t fully grasped how things had escalated so dramatically.
The assassin may have been powerful, but the warriors of the Sixth Knights weren’t pushovers either, and he was in command! Just a little girl, how strong could she really be? Taking down three or five was one thing, but wiping out all of them—there was no way! Even now, Rodris couldn’t shake off these ridiculous thoughts.
This was the Harbor City.
The Harbor City was his turf, his 2000-strong defense line stretched over the beach. At any given moment, if one person from within this room or the nearby barracks heard the commotion, even if she grew wings, there was no escaping his grip.
Just a little assassin…
Just a little assassin…
But that little assassin, in front of him, had taken down all the knights in a way that was utterly unbelievable—over twenty of them, not a single miracle unleashed, just like crops being cut down under her fierce assault.
As Rodris stood up and shouted “enough,” the last remaining knight had turned to flee for the door, probably hoping to call for backup. But before he could make it, the girl whipped above him, unleashing a whipping kick that crushed his helmet, making his neck retreat into his chest. bl**d sprayed from his mouth and nose.
He staggered forward a few steps, but like a drunk, he tripped and fell, never to rise again.
Whoosh—
The wind howled as the cloaked girl reappeared before the Commander, her cloak gracefully settling behind her, as pristine as ever.
Five seconds.
Rodris had always been sensitive to the passage of time; he instinctively calculated that it had taken the Cloak Assassin a mere five seconds to take out all the knights.
After those five seconds, there was no one else left standing in that room besides him.
Not even a moaner on the ground.
And tonight, everyone left in this room was his trusted men—who needed only two qualities to earn that status: strength and loyalty.
They had once been his pride.
Yet here they lay, lost and confused, dying for no reason.
That female assassin…
She hadn’t even shown an ounce of her power yet.
Rodris opened his mouth, feeling a sense of speechlessness for the first time in years, rage bubbling up so high it was almost uncontrollable, his mind a tangled mess while his tongue felt like it was in a knot. He looked at the girl behind her hood and found himself unable to utter a single word.
“Hey…”
But the Cloak Assassin didn’t seem to need him to say anything. After swiftly clearing the room, looking completely unfazed after that astonishing display of skills, she spoke in the same calm tone as before, “What was that about… a price again?”
“Care to repeat that?”
“……”
Rodris’s face darkened, his fists clenched tightly at his sides, making cracking sounds, teeth gritted, yet he couldn’t say a word.
He sensed the killing intent behind her words.
If she wanted…
She could crush him easily.
“Hmm?”
The assassin asked, “Why the silence?”
“……”
“If you’re not satisfied, we can have a little brawl here too.”
“…A name, please.”
Rodris’s voice was dry and hoarse, as if he were a crow cawing. He finally squeezed down all his complex emotions, taking a moment to compose himself, and felt he could speak calmly: “Someone like you can’t be one of those nameless, backstabbing fools. Just give me a name, and we’ll call it a day.”
“Sharman.”
He had expected her to resist, but this time, her reply was quick and decisive, even more than he anticipated: “I’m Sharman, Sharman Joseph Adrian McTwist the Tenth.”
“……”
Rodris blinked in disbelief.
Then, he squinted slightly: “Are you messing with me?”
“Believe it or not.”
I shrugged, not wanting to waste any more time: “I need you to withdraw your people from the docks. About those merchant ship taxes? I’m not concerned, nor interested. But I heard they were to restore the southern realms of Silgaya, with tax money going to reconstruct towns destroyed by war. I’ll check on it later…”
“……”
Huh, the expression still looks unsatisfied…
Forget it.
“I just hope you won’t pull any more tricks. Otherwise, who knows, when I’m in a bad mood, I might just come looking for you again. You seem like a sly guy; I’m sure you know where the bottom line is.”
After finishing, without waiting for him to respond, I waved my hand and turned towards the bewildered sailor.
But after just two steps, I heard a low voice behind me, reminiscent of a lion’s roar: “…That’s it!?”
As if reminded by that voice, I paused and turned back to the man, whose eyes were bloodshot with rage yet somehow not angry, lifted a hand to scratch my cheek casually, and replied, “Oh, I almost forgot one thing.”
Then, I stepped forward using the Moon Step.
Bang—
