Sophistication, and Elegance

Late at night, Adan and Jonas returned to their hideout from a secret meeting with their Night Pythons contact.

“You bastards, you’re making excuses…”

Adan, looking very unhappy, closed the door roughly in frustration.

He reported the circumstances of the mission’s failure, and also brought up the charms, but they were evasive, claiming that it could not be true.

Adan and Jonas, not wanting to be perceived as at fault, pleaded their case, but in the end the matter was dropped. The contact seemed to have wanted to take the matter back to his own people to discuss it with them, so it was likely that the matter would be reopened again later.

“But more importantly, let’s talk about the next job.”

“I know. We’ll start preparing for it first thing tomorrow.”

And that’s when it happened. They heard footsteps approaching down the hallway.

Then there was a knock at the door.

“… What? Who is it? At a time like this?”

Adan asked Jonas in a questioning whisper. Of course, Jonas had no idea.

“Maybe a neighbor? You’re making a lot of noise and slamming the door at this time of night.”

“That’s a hassle… Hey, you, get out. You’ve gotta be smooth about it.”

“Tsk.”

Jonas discreetly clicked his tongue and quickly took off his traveling clothes and put on his normal clothes.

He then stood in front of the door and called out to whoever knocked.

“What can I do for you…”

“≪Cursebind≫”

“Gefu!?”

“…≪Lock Pick≫”

The door unlocked by itself at about the same time as Jonas fell to the ground with a thud.

“… Huh!?”

Adan shouted in astonishment.

The impossible was happening.

Jonas, who had answered the door, was lying on the floor, unable to move. Beyond that. The door was opened and a small figure in black appeared, hiding all but its eyes like a ninja from the East.

However, there was no mistaking her for someone who had beaten them badly just a few hours before. A blonde-haired girl magician. Iris, a member of the “Dragon’s Throat”. The two of them had failed in their previous attack and had fled the scene.

“Why are you here…!”

During their escape, the two of them had hastily disappeared and returned to this location via a more complicated path. Only a Thief who was quicker and more skilled than the two of them would have been able to catch up.

“This is just a frontline base …, or at best, a bunker.””

“You, you!”

“≪Cursebind≫”

“Aghh!!”

The moment he tried to pull out his sword, Jonas was knocked down as well. The girl used magic and suddenly his limbs stiffened and refused to listen to him.

Both Adan and Jonas had been adventurers for a time. However, they had never heard of a spell called ≪Cursebind≫.

The wisteria-colored eyes looked down at the two men who were unable to move without emotion.

“Thanks to you, I’ve tracked down their lair. I’m done with you. I don’t expect to get much out of you, but you’re going to tell me what you know before you die. You have no right to remain silent. You can either suffer a lot and die, or you can burp it all up and die painlessly, I’ll give you that choice.　…≪Deadly Poison≫”

＊ ＊ ＊

The area was filled with deadly silence.

There was a hidden room at the end of the back door of “Golden Bird”, a high-class club in the downtown area of Eltaref.

The room, illuminated by moody lighting, was furnished with a pompous-looking sofa, a table with an air of luxury, and countless liquor cabinets.

The room was strewn with corpses.

A servant. A bouncer. A pro******e who had just been called. A (corrupt) merchant who had come to talk about business. Everyone there had been decapitated and killed by wind magic.

Except for Jaison, the mid-level management executive in charge of the Night Pythons in the city of Eltaref.

“Who are you… why is this place…”

Jaison groaned and muttered as a small hand tightened around his throat. His face, covered in piercings, contorted in pain.

The tattooed, muscular skinhead had made a name for himself as one of the most aggressive fighters in the Night Pythons.

Now, however, he stood on the brink of death, his men and all, having been swept away by a lone girl.

Jaison’s arms and legs were strapped down with “those kind of restraints” that he had brought with him (they were women’s size, but he was forced to wear them, so they were digging into his flesh).

Even in this state, he should have had no problem punching a girl, but the hand restraints were so heavy that he couldn’t raise his arms.

Jaison had no idea what she had done (there was no way a single magician could do that much), but he did know that she had weakened him with a powerful debuffing spell.

“I’m the one asking the questions. You just shut up and answer the questions I ask you.”

“Gyaaah!”

The girl said coldly, and without hesitation, she took the knife in her hand and gouged out one of Jaison’s eyes.

Jaison was terrified. He was terrified of a girl a third his age, of all people.

She was a magician, though her face was hidden by the black-clad thief-like appearance of her entire outfit. She sat cold, looking down at Jaison with a madness in her wisteria-colored eyes.

――What is this monster……!?!

So strong that she did not understand the meaning of the words, and she had no human heart. She feels no mental restraint at all in harming others.

Those who live in the underworld must go through a number of hardships before they finally reach that state of mind. This girl, however, had already reached such a state.

There was no other word to describe such a distorted existence than “monster”.

The monster looked around as if checking something.

“The Earl will be able to find the information he needs to track down the upper management from the letters and records that are still here… So, there are two things I’m interested in. First, how did you know that the “Dragon’s Throat” had been commissioned?”

“Huh? How did you know that!?”

“Answer the question, and don’t talk otherwise.”

Jaison’s remaining eye was also gouged out, and he was finally unable to see anything.

He still wondered why he was being asked such a question under the circumstances, but he knew he had to answer it anyway, so he instinctively spoke up.

“Wayne, an employee of the Adventurers’ Guild, and Danton, a servant of the Earl’s family! I hear there are other informants in the Earl’s household, but I don’t know the details of that!”

“…I see. I knew there was an inside man. So the Earl had separate insiders, one for the city’s Night Pythons and the other for the territorial authorities. So, secondly, was it your decision to go for the “Dragon’s Throat” or was it an order from above?”

“Oh, it was me! It was my decision! I was ordered to sabotage the Earl, but the way I did it was at my discretion!”

“I see.”

Jaison could not see it, but he felt the monster was smiling.

“So, if I kill you, no one will know that the “Dragon’s Throat” was targeted. I don’t want the members to worry and stop me from doing my work. The dead don’t talk, so please die.”

＊ ＊ ＊

The next morning after she got out of bed and became a ninja. Iris (René) had come to the room assigned to the party.

She had already accepted the request through the guild. Her short training period was over, and as of noon today, she would begin her full-fledged activities as Catherine’s double. Before that, the party was having a brief get-together.

“Heh. “Princess Rose of Hellrage”, another ostentatious name for a 10-year-old girl.”

Hugh looked at the wanted list that Diana had brought with her, and his expression turned sour. Benedict’s ears were down and his fangs were showing.

“The first princess abandoned because she was an abomination, huh…”

“She lived without knowing anything about it, didn’t she?”

“That’s the rumor. What nonsense.”

“This is nothing more than a demonstration and a distraction. I don’t understand why they would disgrace even the cause and justice of the coup faction.”

The “Dragon’s Throat” group was sympathetic to René. Maybe having Iris as a companion of the same age made them more compassionate toward René as well.

Iris (René) could read their feelings.

Sympathy and compassion seemed to seep sweetly into her midsection area. She wanted to savor their pity forever.

But it was like being thirsty and no amount of water would quench your thirst.

Even if you pour water into a broken glass, nothing will accumulate there. It was already too late. Sympathy and pity were useless sentiments for the avenger.

“… Wait, what is Iris doing?”

“Oh, this?”

Irislne showed the crystal ball to Diana, who looked at her hand.

During work, Iris’s (René’s) personal belongings were to be kept in this room. This crystal ball was a magical tool taken out from among them.

“Reconnaissance.”

“Oh, the ≪Crystal Eye≫”

“Yes… The whole castle is going to be protected for a while by a detection blocking spell, so I thought I’d take a look at the guards and what they’re doing while I can.”

In her crystal ball, she could see the walls of the castle illuminated by the morning sun. A sleepy-eyed guard, apparently off duty for the night, stood there.

As the name implies, the «Crystal Eye» was a magic spell that allowed the user to look into the distance through a crystal ball. However, it usually cannot see that far. It was said that most spells consume magic power in proportion to the square of the distance when the range is extended. The main purpose of the «Crystal Eye» was to safely scout over a short distance.

“I don’t think it’s that interesting to watch.”

“Ah, we’ve heard about the situation… hey, what are you watching…?”

“Oh, I missed it!”

The moment she took her eyes off the crystal ball in response to Diana, Iris (René) pretended to have made a mistake and shifted her viewpoint at once.

It was in a dimly lit room with little sunlight. It seemed to be a room in a housing complex, but the scene was so bleak. There was almost no furniture in the room, and two men were lying on the floor.

“Hurry up and show us something else. Peeping is m…y … an evil hobby…”

Hugh stopped talking as soon as he started.

The men in the crystal ball were obviously dead.

Their skin had turned dark purple, and they died with horrifying expressions of anguish, looking like statues of demons made by a sculptor with bad taste.

“What is… this?”

“What, did you see a pair mating?”

“That’s not it… Hey, look at it.”

All three except Iris (René) looked into the crystal.

Diana gasped.

“They’re dead…!”

“Iris, where is this?”

“I’m going to move it around a bit now and take a look around. I think it’s near the castle.”

“Hey, I’m going to tell Earl-sama about this…”

Benedict left the room in a panic.