Chapter 14

Chapter 14 - To Change the Future (4)

 

“A-an assassin?!”

Why had assassins come here?

There were many possible reasons that came to mind. Rather, it would have been a lie to say that none occurred to me.

It was not as though I had failed to expect such a development.

The 1st Prince had left the royal palace without even a guard knight, and his only attendant had no connection to swordsmanship whatsoever.

On top of that, the setting was a cemetery so deserted because of strange rumors that hardly anyone came here. It was not particularly strange for assassins to appear.

“So they believe now is the best opportunity.”

As though they would not allow even a single variable, the assassins hiding themselves and waiting for the chance to strike were quite impressive.

Even the flying insects had failed to sense anything unusual and continued crying.

At that level, they were not mere rabble who had come because someone had hired them.

‘At the very least, they are elite killers from an Assassin Guild.’

In fact, even the positions where they stood were organized, so I could roughly guess their level.

Five were hidden in the rear.

Eight were spread out in a fan shape at the front.

Four were in a strike group aiming for my flank.

Altogether, seventeen assassins had taken position.

I moved the baron behind me and murmured in a low voice.

“You have already been discovered, so how about showing yourselves?”

“…….”

“Tsk. How foolish.”

Silence still flowed.

Were they trying to maintain their act even after hearing that they had been discovered?

Well, even so, it was not as though they could reveal themselves and face me just because of a single sentence.

I examined the inside of the cemetery from the corner of my eye and sighed.

“Two behind the gravestones in front. Three up in the trees. Five who drank invisibility potions…….”

“…….”

“Shall I tell you the locations of the rest as well?”

“To see through our concealment…… This is surprising.”

A bizarre voice that came from somewhere rode the mist and echoed through the cemetery.

It was undoubtedly a technique refined over a long time.

It must have been meant to make it impossible to guess the direction or the distance, but my gaze was fixed precisely on one spot.

“That is a usable concealment. You seem to be the leader.”

“……Allen Esteban, you are more remarkable than I heard.”

“I will take that as praise.”

A man wearing a black hood appeared from within the mist. He was the owner of the voice.

Since everything about him had been seen through, he must have decided that there was no further use in remaining hidden.

“I was flustered because we lost track of you partway through, but it seems waiting here was worthwhile.”

By losing track of me, he must have meant when I entered the hideout.

I gave a faint laugh and said,

“Will the rest of your small fry not show themselves?”

“Huh. Your insight is impressive, but it seems you do not have the wit to understand the situation. That, or you are merely bluffing.”

It was a confident attitude, even though his target had discovered him.

That must have been why he had come here with the bold ambition of assassinating the prince of a country.

It was merely laughable.

“And if it is neither?”

“How foolish. Though we were surprised by the unexpected, the fundamental situation has not changed. You are still the prey.”

“I wonder? At the very least, I do not think I will be hunted by cowards who merely hide and wait for an opportunity.”

Objectively speaking, this was not a very favorable situation. That was probably what he believed.

Of course, the source of that confidence was likely not their skill or a surprise attack from within the mist.

“You are remarkably confident for someone carrying a burden. It is hard to believe you are a man about to die.”

“Hah.”

“Please do not think too poorly of us. Are we not all beings who move for our own benefit?”

The burden they referred to meant Baron Vidor, who possessed no combat ability.

Let alone confronting them, he did not even have the strength to protect himself.

In an emergency, he would clearly become their hostage and only interfere with the battle.

……Truly?

Did they truly think that?

I felt somewhat dumbfounded, and a laugh escaped me.

Then the man’s eyes, visible between his hood, narrowed.

“What is so amusing?”

“Haha. It seems I truly look laughable to you.”

It was even funnier because I knew that, in truth, I had once been someone laughable.

“You say I am confident despite carrying a burden? That I am merely bluffing?”

Confidence referred to one’s own feeling that one could do something well.

Likewise, bluffing meant that someone with nothing to his name only showed spirit on the outside.

So I could not help finding it absurd.

“But tell me…… does one need confidence to step on an ant and kill it?”

My left hand was still holding the sheath at my waist.

They were ants.

So small that they could not even climb onto my shoes, and thus no threat at all no matter whether dozens or hundreds crawled together.

They were merely test subjects for measuring the power I had newly obtained.

“I do not know who sent you, but your timing makes me grateful.”

“……What?”

“Be sure to convey my thanks in the afterlife.”

My right hand, gripping the hilt, slowly moved.

Soon, as if I would draw my sword at any moment, I lowered my stance and began twisting my waist.

The distance between us was still more than thirty meters.

They might have laughed at the contradictory and distorted battle stance, but not a single person present could move even a muscle in their face.

At that moment.

“Wh-what…….”

Dread? Terror?

The assassin felt a strange sensation touch his instincts and looked around.

“……!”

The world was black and white.

It was clearly not because of the mist blocking the sunlight.

Time.

If there were a world inside a black-and-white photograph frozen forever, would it look like this?

In this moment, when time seemed to have stopped, the only one standing in place was the 1st Prince holding his sword.

All the assassin could do was fall into despair while listening to the words that came from his mouth.

That was the assassin’s last moment.

“I will send the noble who sent you soon enough as well.”

WHOOOOOM!

The sword, swung with full force, cut through space.

In the place where the sword had passed, a red afterimage bloomed beautifully, engraved clearly in the air as if someone had painted it there.

I had merely swung my sword once in a diagonal line, but the result was by no means light.

“……!”

A single strike.

The graves, the gravestones, the mist, and even the assassins.

Everything along its trajectory was split in half.

Perhaps they even still looked intact for a moment.

If they had not slowly collapsed sideways, no one would have been able to believe it.

“That makes twelve.”

At last, time, which had seemed to stop, returned to normal.

But the world was still motionless.

The bodies of the assassins who had escaped death because they had been positioned in the rear were trembling so badly that they could no longer move.

They were people who had normally received training regarding death, but things were different when the primal instincts of a human being had been touched.

The same was true of the baron, who had been watching the situation unfold.

“……O God.”

Without question, it was the first time in his life that he had seen such a scene.

Astonishing? It was difficult to express this situation with only such a word.

Even the word impossible did not suit the situation now.

Sword Master.

Great beings who had left the category of ordinary humans and reached the realm of superhumans.

His superior was a person so strong that the height of it seemed unfathomable.

“That…… cannot be possible…….”

Even as he said it, he had no choice but to shake his head.

He was not so foolish that he could not believe something even after seeing it with his own eyes.

The question of how such a thing was possible was not particularly important in the present situation.

“If any of you moves, I will kill you immediately.”

It happened in an instant.

My suppression of the area. My approach to the assassins hidden beyond the baron.

“D-damn it! This is not what we were told!”

One assassin failed to overcome his fear and tried to flee, but my response was faster.

“Tsk.”

WHOOSH—

The lump of meat that collapsed to the ground with its upper and lower body separated could no longer be called an assassin.

A fountain of blood that surged up soaked the bodies of the other assassins, but none of them moved.

It would be more accurate to say that they could not move.

“Good. Stand exactly where you are.”

I smiled and approached the assassin at the far left.

Then I personally removed his mask and opened my mouth.

“You. Which Assassin Guild are you from?”

It was a face I had never seen before.

His pitifully trembling blue eyes were almost enough to make one feel sorry for him.

“P-please, spare my life!”

“If you tell me where you came from.”

“I-I have a wife and children, and an old, sick father……”

“Haa.”

STAB!

The assassin whose heart had been pierced could say nothing more and collapsed on the spot.

I roughly wiped the blood from my face and walked to the next assassin.

“You. Which Assassin Guild are you from?”

“Th-that is……”

“Do not answer if you do not want to.”

STAB!

My hand was utterly without mercy.

The bodies of the two remaining assassins began trembling visibly.

The stench of urine piercing my nose was unpleasant, but my smile had not yet disappeared.

“Next.”

“I-I belong to the Assassin Guild of the commercial city of Adela!”

A fairly satisfying answer came out.

But it was not enough yet.

“Then who commissioned the assassination?”

“…….”

“Tsk. You lack the ability to learn.”

STAB!

With this, only one assassin remained.

I approached him with an even brighter smile than before.

“Who commissioned the assassination?”

“I-I will tell you everything! Everything about this commission!”

“You are quite cooperative.”

I crossed my arms in front of him and nodded.

“Now, speak.”

“Th-the beginning was one week ago, with an attendant who came to the guild.”

“And?”

“That person said the noble he served needed the highest-class assassins…….”

After taking a moment to catch his breath, the assassin continued.

“He said he would give us one hundred million gold as the commission fee, but that once we heard the target of the assassination, we could no longer back out.”

“Oh? As much as one hundred million gold?”

“Y-yes.”

“How interesting.”

A noble wealthy enough to use a vast sum like one hundred million gold.

I stroked my chin at the intriguing story and asked,

“So, who did he say the client was?”

“The client…… The client was…….”

“Mm?”

His speech grew more slurred, and his eyes filled with confusion.

At that moment.

“Well.”

I sensed something was wrong and stepped back.

It was a split-second judgment, but it was entirely correct.

“Kraaaaagh!”

POP!

His head, which had gradually been swelling, soon burst into pieces, and fragments flew through the air.

Fortunately, since I had stepped back, I did not take a direct hit, but I could not avoid my clothes becoming dirty.

I clicked my tongue in regret and said,

“Tsk. A curse had been placed on him.”

Of course. They would not have failed to take at least a minimum precaution in such a matter.

It was something I had already expected.

“One hundred million gold…….”

As I brushed off my clothes, I fell into brief thought.

In the current situation, there were only two kinds of nobles who might be hostile to me: the remnants who had committed corruption together with Asus and were now on the verge of being exposed, and the guilty fools whose consciences pricked them.

Among them, if I excluded Asus’s remnants, who should be lying flat because of the example made of Viscount Honore, then only the guilty fools remained.

But those fools, who did not even have a central figure, were trying to shoulder such a risk and assassinate me?

‘Impossible.’

If such a thing were possible, they would have attacked me and driven me into a corner during the noble council, regardless of the Intelligence Department or anything else.

To begin with, it was difficult to expect organized movement from such people.

In other words, there was a third party acting while leaving the trembling nobles alone. More precisely, there was a third force.

A new force that had been hastily formed after Asus’s death.

If that was the case, the identity of the force attempting to assassinate me was obvious.

“I see. Now it is settled.”

My lips curled crookedly.

A force led by someone wealthy enough to use the enormous sum of one hundred million gold, and with a reason that compelled them to move.

I quietly turned over the hypothesis that had formed in my mind. If I had even a little physical evidence, it would likely become certainty at once.

“Baron Vidor.”

“Ah! Yes, Your Highness!”

“We are returning now.”

Now it was truly time to return to the royal palace.

There was one week left before the delegation’s visit.

***

The 4th Prince laughed as he read the report.

“So. Not only did he die pointlessly, but he even left evidence behind?”

Polite speech wrapped beautifully, as though it had been carefully crafted.

At that, the attendant who had submitted the report flinched.

Because he knew the 4th Prince’s personality better than anyone else.

“And? You say the one who stopped my plan was the 1st Prince?”

“Th-that is correct.”

“What a truly interesting story.”

An interesting story?

His master usually maintained an indifferent attitude toward everything, but now that he had heard the report about Asus, he was different.

Even to the attendant who had served the 4th Prince until now, this sight was unfamiliar.

What was certain was that the current situation was absolutely not an amusing scene.

“By the way, why are you only reporting this now, after so much time has passed?”

“H-His Majesty the Emperor personally controlled the information. Therefore, we were delayed in receiving it.”

“His Majesty did?”

“I beg your pardon, Your Highness.”

Surprised by the unexpected answer, the 4th Prince put down the report and spoke.

“Understood. I am sure he had his intentions. You may leave now.”

“Then this lowly one shall……”

“Ah, please wait a moment.”

The attendant, who had tried to leave quickly in case the sparks flew toward him, trembled when the 4th Prince’s voice called him back.

However, the words that followed were truly different from what he had expected.

“The 1st Prince of Esteban. Tell them to keep an eye on him.”

“Pardon?”

A deflating sound escaped the attendant’s mouth, but there was no second explanation.

“And I must meet His Majesty the Emperor immediately.”

“U-understood. I will send word in advance.”

“Yes. Then.”

What on earth was he thinking?

After staring at the report on the desk for quite some time, the 4th Prince soon heard the sound of a carriage from beyond the window and rose from his seat.

Beneath the report he had received from his attendant, information about the 1st Prince seemed to be faintly visible.

“Indecisive and weak, so he will not become a major obstacle?”

When a ray of sunlight slipped through the tightly drawn curtains and lit his face, a terrible scar crossing the prince’s eye was revealed.

The nerves had died, so he could feel nothing there, but in his own mind, it seemed as though that eye was smiling.

“I wonder who provided this information.”

Raiden del Carrot.

The 4th Prince of the Carrot Federal Empire, and the man who would one day become emperor.

His muttered words hinted at the storm of blood that would soon sweep through the imperial palace.