Translator: Wan ED/PR: Fan
“The targets you have to kill are all the barons at the border with the name of Kokolen. There will probably be just five of them, so You can assassinate them.”
Seeing the stiffened expression of the assassin leader, Lucion thought that he already expected what he said.
Barons were the lowest ranked among nobles.
Even so, though ‘nobles’ brought nervousness, it wasn’t that the nobles didn’t try to assassinate each other, so such an action wasn’t strange at all.
“Kill them before the night ends. I’ll receive Your report after 10 in the morning.”
Lucion handed them a communication item.
“I’m temporarily lending You this item, so if You can’t kill them, You have to give it back.”
Communication items were expensive, but more than that, the process of matching the mana of two communication items was even more complicated.
To match the wavelength, you had to quietly sit holding a communication item in each hand for about 2 to 3 hours.
“The money is the commission fee, so just return half of it if You fail.”
It would be a pity if they failed their mission, but Bethel has good eyes, so they could be the next opportunity.
As the organization grows, the number of assassins would also increase.
“That’s all.”
As Lucion said everything he wanted to say, he stood up from his seat.
“One moment please.”
At that moment, the assassin leader called out to Lucion.
“Isn’t this enough money for a lacking explanation? Are You perhaps worried about the aftermath?”
Lucion asked.
You couldn’t become an assassin just because you killed people.
As a basic, the person had to kill well, clean up the traces and eliminate witnesses to be called a true assassin.
“How do we kill them?”
Lucion was almost secretly disappointed, but hearing the question, he recognized that it was the part that he couldn’t leave out.
“Ah. Right. I forgot to say how You should kill them.”
An assassin’s job was to kill the target instead of the employer, so they would unilaterally follow the employer’s intentions in the killing method, too.
“Please simply write ‘I’m the best’ on the wall of the barons’ residence.”
He had to confuse the Hand of Void.
At times like this, childishness was the best.
The assassin leader’s eye twitched for a moment.
Even though his gaze was saying ‘Do I really have to write it?’, Lucion didn’t say anything.
“… Understood.”
The leader’s expression was subtle.
However, Lucion didn’t bother with it and left.
The assassins who waited until the masked man completely left the building belatedly opened their mouths and asked:
“Are You really planning to write it, boss?”
“I made a living with this work for such a long time, but such childish words are the first. I feel like my pride is hurt.”
They heard assassination requests like brutal dismembering, but it was the first time they were asked to write such child-worthy words.
“They tell you to write it, you write it, they tell you to strip, you strip.”
But the assassin leader calmed them down and tightly grabbed the money bag in his hand.
“Get ready.”
***
After cleaning up the bodies of the enemies who invaded Cronia, Anthony quietly returned to the central mansion.
The only people who owned the key to the office were him and Novio, but worried that someone might have tried to break into Novio’s office, he wanted to check it.
“…?”
Anthony, who was about to walk through the dark corridor, momentarily stopped in his tracks.
He passed a knight on patrol just a moment ago.
‘Footsteps and the smell of blood?’
Quickly recognizing whose footsteps it was, Anthony urgently turned on the item that gave off light and carefully illuminated the end of the corridor.
“… Young Master?”
As expected, it was Lucion.
Lucion was dazzled, turning back and seeing light, so Anthony quickly turned it off.
“My apologies.”
“What are you doing in the middle of the night, Anthony?”
It was the question he wanted to ask instead.
Why was he not sleeping and strolling through the corridor?
For a moment, Anthony had several thoughts running through his head.
However, those thoughts crumbled to pieces as he approached Lucion.
He smelled a thick scent of blood.
“Young Master. Excuse my rudeness.”
When Anthony approached, Lucion slightly hid his hand behind his back.
“What’s the matter?”
“Are You perhaps hurt?”
Shush.
Lucion made a quiet sound.
It wasn’t good timing.
Knowing that, Anthony quietly nodded.
“I was just going to quietly take medicine.”
Lucion calmly said.
“Please show me the wound.”
Anthony said with an upset voice.
Lucion showed a hand where on a finger was a pretty long and deep cut.
Anthony’s face twisted.
Were there any people who liked to be cut?
But Lucion was different even on that.
For three years after Lucion was kidnapped by the Neavera Kingdom, he would foam at the mouth and faint from just seeing sharp objects.
Right now, he improved enormously thanks to treatment and medicine.
So everyone couldn’t help but be excited when Lucion said he would learn swordsmanship.
“Are You okay?”
Anthony asked, suppressing his worries.
“Yeah.”
“Are You really okay? Not in pain?”
“I’m not.”
“Please come this way. I’ll treat You.”
It was strange that he was suddenly wounded, but wouldn’t it be even stranger if he was treated?
But he was caught by Anthony, deliberately pretending it was a mistake.
Because of Anthony’s voice and expression that showed he was still upset, Lucion felt very sorry.
[You were wrong, Lucion.]
Russell also wanted to take Anthony’s side because of his sincerity.
***
“Enemies visited. We cleaned up the bodies without leaving a trace.”
Anthony didn’t ask how and where Lucion got hurt, and instead reported while treating his finger.
Currently, Lucion was the owner of this mansion, so he had to know about the situation.
It was as he expected, so Lucion calmly nodded.
“Who?”
Because the voice sounded like he was asking for a small secret, Anthony briefly smiled.
He abruptly resembled Novio and Carson in his thinking.
“They were assassins dispatched through the stepping stone. However, as Young Master knows, it will be difficult to know who ordered without shaking the stepping stone.”
It was to say that because the assassins and the employer went through the stepping stone, the assassins didn’t know their employer, and the employer didn’t know the assassins.
“Anthony.”
“Yes, Young Master.”
“It wasn’t impromptu, it was planned. Even if the assassins attacked at the same time, you must have realized they were not one team.”
Assassins originally moved in teams.
Even if this matter was planned, as each team had a different assassination method, they wouldn’t be able to hide it even if they tried.
Lucion tried to persuade Anthony while hiding how he came to know about the current situation and make it sound plausible.
“As the stepping stone would think that too, they probably already pocketed all the documents about who the assassins were. Then, if we rob them, it will all come out. Their numbers must be pretty close to zero right now, so what are they going to do? The only method to replenish them is to bring in ordinary people.”
Lucion snickered slightly.
Anthony, who was stitching the wound, glanced at Lucion for a moment.
He thought that this sight he saw for the first time really suited the Lucion he knew.
“If the assassination was planned, it means that someone deliberately lured Father and hyung-nim. Then isn’t it obvious who those bastards are?”
Lucion’s eyes narrowed, and the eyebrows of Anthony, who was treating the wound, furrowed.
“… Young Master is thinking of the Neavera Kingdom?”
Even just saying the word Neavera made Anthony’s blood boil, but wouldn’t it be much worse for Lucion?
“Yeah. Is there anyone else besides those bastards?”
However, Lucion’s voice was extremely calm.
Anthony held his breath and examined Lucion’s expression.
His expression wasn’t shaken at all, just like his voice.
“It’s clear that Neavera held hands with someone from the empire. Putting aside the reason, they were bold enough to attack Cronia, so don’t we have to catch them? Isn’t it right, Anthony?”
“Of course. We will make sure to capture them.”
Anthony put strength in his voice.
“Then start with turning the stepping stone, who probably knows something, upside down. As the range itself is so narrow, they won’t be able to help but confess.”
Lucion gave a light command.
He didn’t know what the hell they were thinking, attacking Cronia, but those bastards made a big mistake.
Cronia was the spear and shield of the empire.
If they were so weak as to break because Novio and Carson were away, they wouldn’t have been able to protect the border for so long.
‘Well, they might have been trying to send the assassins to draw gazes away or shake Cronia from the inside, but that’s absurd.’
Lucion decided to wield the authority that came into his hands at this opportunity.
He was personally curious how powerful Cronia was.
Anthony stood up.
At some point, Lucion’s finger was neatly tied with a bandage.
[Quick and clean.]
Russell, who observed Anthony’s treatment from the beginning, nodded with satisfaction.
“We will move right away.”
Without another word, Anthony followed Lucion’s command.
Right now, Lucion was the only Cronia in this mansion.
The Cronia moved to grab the throats of its enemies.
***
Ring-ring.
Unable to open his eyes, Lucion just stretched his hand to the table beside the bed at the sound of vibration, fumbling around, searching for something.
[Not here. On the right.]
Russell quickly entered Lucion’s room at the sound of vibration, and deliberately said the opposite.
Seeing the hand move, unable to find the communication item, Russell grabbed his stomach and laughed joyfully.
— Latta will help!
Latta stopped staring, climbed onto Lucion’s head and made a big leap.
“Ugh.”
Lucion half-opened his eyes because of the heavy weight.
As she ate a lot these days, Latta’s weight was different from the first time.
Latta bit the communication item, climbed onto the bed and put it in front of Lucion’s face.
Lucion used the communication item after petting Latta’s head.
〈All five people were killed.〉
He heard the voice of the assassin leader through the item.
〈We also didn’t leave out the words ‘I’m the best’.〉
At those words, Lucion, left without options, stood up and put on the mask he left in a drawer.
‘It’s already morning?’
He felt his head spin, as he slept little.
“Well done. I’ll find You later.”
After saying this, Lucion disconnected.
Bethel followed after them.
It was enough to hear the details from Bethel.
Lucion sat in the chair and leaned his head against the desk.
He happened to have the communication item in hand, so he thought of making some calls.
First of all, to Jamad, from whom there was no news.
But he only heard the ringing tone. He didn’t pick up.
‘Well, an almost perfect weapon doesn’t make itself in a day.’
Lucion called Krone.
〈Hello, Hamel-nim. Please give me a moment.〉
As if he was ordering something, he heard the voices of people around.
When the sound of footsteps on soil became louder, Lucion leaned back and closed his eyes for a moment.
Soon, his breathing became deeper.
〈… Hamel-nim?〉
After a moment, Krone’s voice leaked from the communication item Lucion was holding.
〈Hamel-nim? Excuse me, Hamel-nim?〉
Even though he was asked for again and again, Lucion didn’t say anything, so Krone carefully asked.
〈Hamel-nim? Are You listening?〉
— Russell. Lucion isn’t answering. Is he angry because Krone said to wait?
Latta, who curled up on the bed, half raised her body and stared at Lucion.
[No. It seems he fell asleep?]
Russell chuckled, dumbfounded.
〈I made You wait for too long. I truly apologize if I made You angry. It was simply because I was checking the locations of the tunnels for the Ratmen.〉
[Lucion. Lucion? What do we do if you sleep now?]
Russell shook Lucion’s shoulder.
“…Ah.”
At last Lucion woke up, and made a sound.
〈I apologize. I should have move faster.〉
“… What?”
〈Yes?〉
He heard Krone’s flustered voice.
Lucion was lost, too, and asked:
“What did you just say?”
〈Were You perhaps… asleep?〉
“Sorry. I dozed off.”
When he didn’t answer even after he apologized, Lucion called out to Krone.
“Krone?”
〈… I apologize. I will work more diligently for the organization in the future.〉
“…?”
*~*~*
Translator’s note: Frankly, me when people call me before noon.
Editor’s note: Noon? That’s way too early.
Translator’s note2: Cruel world.
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