Chapter 10 | The Assassin Learns of His Toughest Target Yet
We went to the Class S dorm and walked to the top floor, where the upperclassmen lived. I instructed Dia and Tarte to go to our apartment.
There’s too much about this situation I don’t like.
If I decided this was a job I shouldn’t accept, it would be better for Dia and Tarte if they were kept ignorant of the details. House Romalung was delivering this job directly, and if I refused, they might decide to remove anyone who knew too much.
I entered Nevan’s apartment. Its layout was identical to mine, but the interior put her tastes and sophisticated sense of aesthetics on full display.
“This room suits you well, Nevan,” I remarked.
“Is that a compliment?” she asked.
“Yes. It has all the elegance of a noble lady.”
Her quarters were decorated with beautiful furnishings and bright, showy colors. It could easily have come off as coarse, but that wasn’t the case. The room had a refined beauty and a clear feminine charm. Dia and Maha also possessed elite senses for beauty, but Dia was much more interested in collecting magic-related items, and Maha prioritized functionality over femininity.
I hadn’t had the chance to view many chambers like this one. If I had to make a comparison, I would’ve likened it to Mina’s estate.
“Your praise honors me,” Nevan responded. “Farron, bring us tea and sweets.”
“Yes, Lady Nevan.”
A tall female servant Nevan brought to the academy waited upon us both. A wonderful aroma rose from the tea she poured.
“That’s a nice scent. I don’t believe I’ve ever had this kind of tea before,” I said.
I was confident in my knowledge of tea leaves because of my efforts selling them at Natural You, but I had never encountered this smell before.
“It’s a tea leaf we procured from overseas. Natural You does not have exclusivity over international deals. Whoever controls the ocean controls business—we’ve been working on transoceanic travel for over a century with that belief in mind. We have built ships that can survive monsters and storms alike, and we have sacrificed many to find safe routes of passage,” Nevan explained.
House Romalung produced the greatest humanity had to offer. It wasn’t surprising that they would have that level of technology. It was also impressive that they had the foresight to know that trade would become the main battlefield of business.
“House Romalung continues to impress.”
“There is one thing I just can’t accept, however.”
“What’s that?”
“Natural You’s boats. I believed the vessels that House Romalung spent decades building were the greatest in the world. They are made of steel rather than wood, to protect them from the monsters of the ocean, and they are mana-powered, enabling them to move at high speeds without relying on the wind. They’re perfect.”
They had made steel boats in a world of magic. That was a true breakthrough in technology.
“Then a simple merchant named Illig Balor comes along and constructs ships with the same concept but a superior design in a minuscule amount of time. Next, he somehow finds many of the safe and profitable sea routes that we discovered only after much failure and pain.”
“I didn’t know Natural You possessed such amazing boats.” I feigned ignorance because Lugh Tuatha Dé had no connection to Natural You.
“That’s not all. Every one of the onboard sailing tools is very advanced. Take the compass. Illig figured out how to hold the compass horizontal even when the ship was moving, keeping its readings accurate. He even discovered the concept of longitude and invented a tool called the sextant to measure it. His ships can accurately determine their location while on the ocean. Those astounding discoveries will surely change sea voyages forever. Illig Balor is no ordinary person.”
“He’s quite the inventor, and he has my respect.”
“You speak as if this has nothing to do with you.”
“One of my fiancées works for Natural You, but I don’t know her boss. You’ve roused my curiosity, though. I’ll ask Maha to introduce me to Illig Balor sometime.”
“You’re set on playing dumb, I see,” Nevan replied with a telling smile. I grinned back.
…I’m surprised by this. Everything Nevan just mentioned—the new model magic ships, the invention of the dry compass, sextants to measure longitude—was top-secret information I’d taken efforts to keep from leaking. All this technology was vital to maintaining Natural You’s superiority in matters of commerce.
Many ships presently hauled cargo along the continent, but hardly any companies traded between continents like Natural You did. Attempting an intercontinental journey with the standard boats available to crews was paramount to suicide.
That was why Natural You was able to make a killing. Chocolate was a prime example of the advantage our ships gave us—no one other than Natural You could even obtain cacao.
“I’ll find proof eventually,” Nevan declared.
“I don’t have a clue what you mean… Anyway, I doubt you called me here for idle chatter. Get to the point,” I urged.
“Yes, you’re right. Now…” Nevan’s attitude changed from that of a friend to that of the daughter of Duke Romalung. The very air seemed to grow thicker. “By the name of House Romalung, one of the four major dukedoms, I order you to use your hidden Tuatha Dé blade for the sake of the Alvanian Kingdom. Remove the lesion that plagues this land.”
“I will if the target is truly harmful to the country.”
The Romalungs always used this exact wording when presenting a job, and the response I used was a stock response given by the Tuatha Dé. We used them in writing and in person, and they perfectly encapsulated our roles to the kingdom.
Standard procedure dictated that Nevan give information on the target next. Curiously, the young female servant Nevan addressed as Farron remained present. If she’d been an ordinary attendant, there was no way she would’ve been permitted to hear this.
Farron had a steady and vigilant demeanor. I could also tell she possessed extremely powerful mana. Judging by those two qualities, I figured she was likely a blood relative of House Romalung and a confidante of Nevan.
“The lesion we ask that you eliminate is the hierarch of the Alamite Church,” Nevan announced.
“That explains why you had to give this job to me directly. On the very small chance this got out, we’d all be finished. We’d be enemies of the entire world,” I responded.
“Goodness, I thought you’d be surprised.”
“I am. However, I’d already considered this possibility.”
“I am impressed by the reach of your ears.”
Alamism was the official religion of nearly every country in the world, making it the most prominent religion. A shrine maiden called the Alam Karla held a high position in the church, and she helped the hero in her fight against the demons by sharing divine revelations.
Unlike the many shams in other religions who falsely claimed to hear the voice of a god, the Alam Karla was the real deal. The goddess had told me herself that she used the Alam Karla as a vessel through which to deliver her voice and manage the world. The documents on the hero and demons that the Alamite Church maintained were also completely accurate. Alamism was genuinely helping to save the world, which was why it had so many devoted followers.
“You are the only person in the world capable of this assassination. Will you take it on?”
“Tell me why the hierarch needs to die.”
The regular reports from my information network that I’d spread throughout the country had led me to believe the church was up to some suspicious activity. That knowledge alone didn’t give me grounds for an assassination, however.
“A demon has taken the place of the hierarch, and the Alam Karla’s life is in danger. Is that not enough reason to act? …Oh my, there is the surprise I was looking for.”
…A demon has replaced the hierarch?! If true, this was a massive problem. The demon could easily trap and kill the hero or the Alam Karla. Even worse, it could use the Alam Karla’s status as the oracle and pass off its own decrees as the goddess’s.
Plunging the world into chaos would be a piece of cake. The demon could also ruin my life. All it had to do was declare that the goddess had branded me evil. There was a good chance the demon would do so, as I’d vanquished several of its kin. I’d do the same thing if I were a demon.
People depended on society to live. No matter how strong someone was, only ruin awaited them if they made an enemy of the world. At the very least, I wouldn’t be able to live as Lugh Tuatha Dé any longer.
“I accept.”
The first thing to do would be to collect evidence. If I found enough to support Nevan’s claim, I would kill the demon disguised as the hierarch as swiftly as possible.
“I greatly appreciate it.”
This would be the most difficult assassination of my two lives. Killing a human hierarch would have been challenging enough, but this target was a powerful demon.
That wouldn’t stop me, however. This job was necessary to protect my happiness and that of the people I loved.
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