Chapter 12 | The Assassin Assassinates an Assassin
I slipped out of my apartment in the middle of the night. I was going to check on the status of the ploy I’d set.
Ever since I’d heard from my dad that there was an assassin going after Epona, I’d been staying near her as much as possible to observe her surroundings. While doing so, I’d managed to detect the hired killer’s presence a few times.
They were cautious and decently skilled, however. Not once had they presented me with a chance to catch them.
So I’d changed my strategy. If I couldn’t apprehend the assassin, I would instead draw them out. The plan was to fabricate a situation that convinced them to act.
To create that scenario, I’d been behaving like I was Epona’s secret guard. However, I moved in a way that would betray that supposed identity to those skilled enough.
Humans were strange in that they had a tendency not to believe the information they heard from other people, but then unconditionally accept anything they discovered themselves. My current plan seized upon the advantage of that phenomenon. I wanted the assassin to notice me and think of me as the hero’s bodyguard. If they did, they’d undoubtedly try to go after Epona when I wasn’t around.
I made sure the killer knew I was absent today by having Naoise watch Epona in my place. Leaving Epona completely unprotected risked arousing suspicion on whether I actually was defending her.
Naoise, however, as skilled a sword fighter as he was, knew nothing of the methods of assassins and had no experience safeguarding another. Naoise would definitely give the killer a chance to strike, and I trusted they would have the skill to take advantage.
With me out of the picture, the assassin had no reason not to strike, provided they could get past Naoise.
I snuck into Epona’s room from above the ceiling. There were only so many advantageous positions from which to kill covertly, and this was the one I’d picked. If the enemy was going to try for Epona’s life, they were already hiding in a similar location.
…I’ve got them. They were nearby. My intention that night wasn’t to stop a murder but to successfully mark the would-be killer.
They must have infiltrated the apartment only to withdraw after deciding they couldn’t get the job done with their current equipment. Epona does look helpless, though.
Epona was sound asleep. Even though I, an assassin, was just a few feet away. She wasn’t remotely aware of my presence. A Cannon Strike at this distance wouldn’t leave so much as a scratch on her, however. Even Cannon Volley wasn’t enough to end the hero.
All right, time to go. My trap was successful.
…Tomorrow I should be able to pinpoint the assassin.
The next morning, I left for the academy as usual. Using my Tuatha Dé eyes, I observed everyone I walked past on the way to class to search for the mark I had placed on the assassin yesterday.
It was highly likely that the killer was a member of the faculty.
The security at school was tight. Infiltrating it from the outside was extremely difficult. That much went without saying, though. Every noble family in Alvan had a child at the academy.
“Lord Lugh, you’ve been looking around restlessly today. Is something wrong?” Tarte asked.
“Wow, you noticed that?”
I was surprised. As Tarte said, I was eyeing my surroundings. I didn’t think I was doing anything that betrayed my motives, however. I was employing the full scope of my vision without looking at anything directly. To other people, I should’ve appeared as I always had.
“I just had a feeling. Your mood felt a little different,” Tarte stated.
“I see. You’re a smart girl.”
I patted Tarte on the head, and her eyes narrowed happily.
As an assassin, there was nothing more important than being highly aware of your environs. Failing to pick up on small signals could mean death.
“Hey, how come Tarte gets all the praise? Guess I need to try harder,” Dia grumbled.
“I just commended you yesterday for that spell, right?” I reminded.
“That’s entirely different.” Dia puffed out her cheeks. It was adorable when she got competitive.
Thankfully, it didn’t seem as though the assassin was in my class. That came as a relief. I didn’t want to have to kill a classmate I’d formed a bond with.
After class, I made an excuse to go to Professor Dune’s office. He was clean, too.
For lunch, Dia, Tarte, and I went to the dining hall instead of the courtyard like we usually did. It afforded me a much better opportunity to observe students. Tarte and Dia remained oblivious to my motive and merely enjoyed the food.
“This is so good… I’m surprised,” said Tarte.
“It’s really expensive, though,” added Dia.
“That’s because they use good ingredients,” I commented.
Our meals really were delicious. Tarte’s cooking usually kept me away from the dining hall, but I didn’t think sampling the academy’s luxurious cuisine once in a while was all that bad. The quality of the dishes couldn’t be denied. Dia was correct when she’d said they were expensive, however. Unlike with breakfast and dinner, you had to pay for lunch out of your pocket. The cost was pretty high for a lowly baron’s son.
“It’s more than just good ingredients. The preparation is excellent, too. The chicken in this stew is incredible—its flavor has dissolved into the broth, but it’s still juicy and delicious. It’s like magic,” Tarte observed keenly.
She was so fired up about the cooking that she looked ready to rush into the kitchen and ask for the recipe. Ambition really was one of Tarte’s best traits.
While admiring Tarte, I looked around the dining hall.
There you are.
The trap I’d placed was a special kind of powder coating. I’d left a bit of the stuff in every conceivable place an assassin might’ve entered Epona’s room from.
The dust was a gray-white substance that was nearly microscopic. A person couldn’t notice it sticking to them. Water wouldn’t wash it away, either. To my Tuatha Dé eyes, it glowed a bright blue.
“Wow, it’s him.”
The assassin was a marquis’s son who’d only just barely made it into Class A.
I felt a sense of undeniable appreciation for my opponent.
I’d known this guy to be skilled. With his ability, he could’ve made it into Class S. Like a true professional, however, he intentionally entered at a lower rank so he wouldn’t stand out. He was even wise enough to choose Class A so that he’d have a room to himself and maintain his distance from others.
I had intentionally entered Class S to be as close to Epona as possible to search for her weak points, but trying to keep your distance and not stand out was the more straightforward and more common approach for a hired killer.
However, the fact that he took my bait so readily demonstrated a lack of self-restraint.
“Oh no, it looks like Lord Lugh is enjoying the dining hall food, too. But I won’t lose! I’ll make something even better than this!”
Tarte mistakenly took my relaxed facial expression to mean I was enjoying my meal.
“Lugh, I think we can count on a special dinner tonight,” Dia quipped.
“Yeah, she’s got that look in her eyes,” I replied.
Dia and I both looked at Tarte and smiled.
Since Tarte was going to put a lot of effort into our dinner, I decided to take care of my job afterward.
Once classes had finished, I met with the headmaster and a few others. The academy was going to be losing a student, so specific preparations needed to be made.
After much discussion, we decided the cover story would be that the target couldn’t take the school’s strict lifestyle and ran off. Evidence of his escape had already been fabricated, including cutting part of the fence.
The headmaster would tell the guards to provide eyewitness testimony of the assassin’s flight. As an extra precaution, some fabric was to be placed on the fence to make it look like the boy’s uniform tore as he was running. The hero was paramount, so the academy spared no expense.
Later that night, I donned a disguise and snuck into the Class A dorm. It didn’t take any clever maneuvers. I simply walked through the front door while everyone was sleeping and headed straight for the assassin’s room. It was late enough that no one was outside their rooms and the lights were all out.
Silent as a ghost, I used the key the headmaster had given me to enter the assassin’s room.
I checked to see that my target was sleeping and then threw a knife. I used my Tuatha Dé eyes to observe his mana capacity and adjusted the attack accordingly.
The knife pierced his comforter and plunged deep into his body. Blood spread from the wound, but the young man didn’t even scream.
That was because the edge of my weapon had been coated with a neurotoxin that took immediate effect. It rendered one unable even to lift a finger once it entered the body. Not only did this keep a victim from screaming, it also prevented suicide.
There was bewilderment on the assassin’s face as he looked at me. He probably hadn’t expected Epona’s guard to make such a direct move.
He wasn’t good enough. He lacked the wariness required of his profession.
“Sorry about this. I can’t let you get in the way of my job. It’s meaningless at this point, but I’m going to give you a piece of advice. As an assassin, you always have to assume you are being hunted… Though to be fair, I have made the same mistake before.”
I knocked him unconscious, stopped his bleeding, stuffed him and his bloodied sheets into a bag, and slung him over my shoulder.
Just as when I’d entered the dormitory, I simply walked down the empty hallways. I’d memorized the guard’s route and timing, so there was no risk of being spotted.
My methods had been straightforward this time, and less complicated procedures meant a higher success rate. An assassination should only be as intricate as the situation demanded.
…Now that this is done, I can carry him to my hideout.
I’d prepared a secret location in preparation for this sort of thing. It was a place where I could make as much noise as I wanted without attracting any attention. I needed to get my captive to give me his employer’s name and the motive for wanting Epona dead.
His usefulness didn’t end there, of course. I’d finally gotten hold of a mage. I planned to use him as practice for the surgical implantation of Tuatha Dé eyes. Tarte wanted the surgery, and I needed to be confident I could do it safely.
This is going to be a busy night. It might be tough to stay awake in class tomorrow.
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