Volume 1 - CH 26

I advanced through the small tunnel in pursuit of the kidnapped Elena.

Although that maid had leaked information, the culprit shouldn’t have time to dig a hole this long beforehand. Most likely the kidnapper was a user of earth sorcery.

So even though Sera’s colleagues were standing watch, they didn’t investigate the underground……. In the first place they were lacking manpower, so they were using even a child like me. Only the maid who listened to my words was Sera’s colleague who was accompanying Elena this time, but even she wasn’t skilled in stealth and search. I heard that she only had several knight skills in order to become meat shield for the princess. There was no way all the members of the organization had high level scouting skills like Sera. The majority must be people like spies who focused in gathering information.

But right now Elena was more important than those things. Even if they managed to contact the high ranked butler outside, it should take him more than ten minutes to catch up. Until he arrived I would need to find Elena and held back the kidnapper by myself.

The culprit was able to travel through this kind of cramped tunnel that only a child or slim woman could pass while carrying a child. The opponent might be a scout, thief, or…….

「……Assassin huh.」

An assassin using sorcery was the worst opponent that I could imagine. Even so I had to catch up. But that wasn’t because this was a “job” that I had undertaken.

After passing through a distance that seemed to be around the same with three houses, the tunnel suddenly changed into a shaft. I used stealth while applying body strengthening. I pushed my fingers on the earth wall while climbing up the hole smoothly. Then I peeked outside while searching for any presence in the surrounding. There I see a dirty looking man preparing to escape in a rush.

So the culprit didn’t operate solo and had an accomplice. Or perhaps he was just a robber, but I had already decided to attack either way.

「……Feel……」

When I chanted the sorcery inside my mouth, the man turned around in surprise toward the entrance. I leaped out in that instant and threw the tow knives hidden in my sleeves.

「Gyah!?」

The man was stabbed by two knives on his back and lost his balance. I kicked his leg to make him stumble, then when he lied face down on the ground, I put my knee on his back hard and pointed my black knife on his neck.

「Where is the woman and the girl she has with her?」

「……W-what the hell with you! I don’t know a……gyaah!」

The man tried to play stupid, so I slashed him from his neck until his back before pointing the knife on his neck once more.

「I have no time, so I won’t torture you in a way that can be healed with Heal.」

I slid my knife while pressuring him. When his neck was cut, the man’s face instantly turned pale.

「I-I was only paid to stand guard! Spare me!」

「That’s not what I ask.」

「Gyaaaaaah!」

This time I stabbed my knife into his back and twisted. The man couldn’t endure the pain and started talking.

「That woman carried the child and turn right──no, left! There is a carriage there!」

When I twisted the knife further when he spoke too smoothly, the man realized that I was serious and changed his words in panic.

「Any other accomplice? I’ll come back and kill you if you lie.」

「N-nobody else! She said that her comrades are waiting outside the city! I’m not lying!」

「Got it.」

*Go-!*

「Gah……」

I strengthened my hands and knocked out the man by striking his head with my knife’s pommel. It was pointless to ask him anything more than this. Besides if I left him alive, Sera’s comrades who came chasing this way would be able to interrogate him.

I collected my throwing knives and went outside. I came out in a narrow alley where there wasn’t anybody else.

The man said that they went left, but he said right at first. To make sure I lowered my face until it almost touched the ground and strengthened my eyes. Certainly there were footprints going to the right, but I found the faint trace of erased footsteps to the left. I started running to that direction.

It was my first time using Feel in real battle but I was able to confirm its effect. This was illusion magic that I constructed with darkness magic, I specified the location with darkness sorcery and applied only the effect with darkness magic. It was a combination of sorcery and magic.

Its effect was only something simple to grant the sensation of 『being touched』 at the 『optional location』 of the living thing that I targeted. In fact there was nobody touching the target, so this magic could even move a single leaf, but as the result of cutting down the construction as much as possible, I managed to keep the magic power consumption to just 5 points.

Magic had to be constructed inside the brain, so it was still difficult to use it immediately. But it could be used effectively in this kind of situation, and its MP consumption was low so there would be many situations where it could be used if I got used to it.

「……It’s this way.」

I continued my pursuit while checking for the footprints sometime. There was only one set of footprint. The culprit was walking skillfully in a way that didn’t leave footprint, but there was a faint footprint remaining as though she had stopped for a moment to fix her hold on what she was carrying. I didn’t know whether it was because Elena was heavy or because she had regained consciousness and struggled, but even if I assumed that the culprit’s gender was woman, I felt that her physical strength wasn’t that high.

I was pursuing while doing what Viro taught me. I imagined the figure of my enemy. I assumed that the enemy was an assassin, but why didn’t she kill Elena?

Sera hypothesized that the enemy was someone who was dispatched by a hostile faction. If that was true then the objective of the kidnapper was to bring Elena back alive and used her for political means. If that was the case, there was no need for the culprit to be assassin. From the lack of physical strength of the opponent, was she a thief variety of scout whose main specialty wasn’t fighting?

Then she wouldn’t go as far as taking Elena’s life. It was fine to assume that, but I should discard any naive thinking and assumed that she would kill Elena if she was cornered. My winning conditions were first, Elena’s life, then second was retaking her back. My objective wasn’t to defeat the enemy. It also wasn’t my objective to investigate the enemy’s identity. It would be dangerous if I mistook the order of priorities.

Even if the enemy a scout who wasn’t a fighter type, most likely she would be a formidable enemy who was stronger than hobgoblin. Then, why was I chasing alone l like this to brave such danger……I asked myself.

I wondered when did it start……I realized that the pressure in my heart lightened when I was together with Elena.

Elena was “light”. In this twisted and cruel world, she was the only “same kind” who appeared before me and faintly illuminated the dark and solitude path that I had continued to walk on until now.

I did this not because of work. I……just didn’t want Elena to die.

After running through the back alley, I saw a carriage that was usually used by individual peddler parked in a slightly open space.

「Found you.」

There was one slim silhouette outside the carriage. I also confirmed blond hair fluttering from inside the carriage. I ran while swiping my skirt to pulled out the knives tied on my legs.

When Elena started to grow awareness, her mother started giving her education for gifted children. She never felt any motherly warmth from her. The baby Elena continued to accept the harsh education only to seek for that warmth. As the result, she obtained four sorcery elements and knowledge that could put adult to shame, but as the compensation, the elements and powerful magic power that she obtained at four years old gnawed into her body. Her body was reduced into one that couldn’t run around like a child her age should be able to.

This wasn’t something that was widely known even among the nobles, but when someone obtained a lot of elements, the caster had to pay with their lifespan as the price of obtaining strong power. In Elena’s case, if she was able to grow until she had adult body, she would be able to live normally even though it would be difficult for her to have children. But such defect was vital for a royalty. Elena’s mother quickly lost interest with her.

Elena who failed to obtain a mother’s warmth and also lost her healthy body was only supported by her brother the crown prince who was born from the first queen. He was a gentle and kind brother who could understand other person’s pain. Elena idolized him and she was so fixated with him that it looked like her brother was the only one who she could rely on……that was how Elena made herself appeared to be to other people.

If she continued to follow whatever her mother told her to do, the country would be divided between the royalty faction and noble faction one day and conflict would break out. A part of herself had also been saved by the kindness of her big brother the crown prince, and she personally harbored affection to him as a little sister, but the “kindness” that her brother possessed wasn’t a “strength” that was capable to unite a country that was torn apart into two.

With how young Elena was right now, it would be hard for her to ignore the words of the noble faction. That was why there was a need for Elena to show to the external and internal side that she belonged to royalty faction that she even went as far as acting to be 『obsessed with the crown prince』.

At present only her father the king, her grandparents the previous king and the queen mother, and a small number of close associates including her wet nurse who knew about this fact. In case the crown prince was judged to be too 『weal』 to be the next king, she would take on the role of 『queen』 as the king’s representative and 『educate』 the crown prince’s child until they grew up. Like that Elena continued to receive ruling education without her mother the second queen’s awareness.

The result of the education that the second queen gave in order to snatch away the throne from the son of the first queen had given Elena the “knowledge” that could make her think of the country’s peace that she even betrayed her own mother for it.

.

The recuperation in Dandall this time also wasn’t to cool down Elena’s head that was going too far with unhealthy obsession, but a “rest” that was suggested by Elena’s father in his concern for her who had to adjust the internal balance of the kingdom even in her age of seven years old.

Other than for that rest, Dandall  was chosen because Elena’s cousin Clara was also there. Clara was living in the capital when she was three years old until six years old. During that time she was always visiting the palace as Elena’s playmate.

The one year older Clara never acted servile or coarse like other children and possessed gracefulness as the princess of Dandall. Elena looked up to her as though she was her real big sister. That was why Elena went as far as this place for her recuperation, but Clara who she met after two years was slightly different from before.

Perhaps she should describe it as there was this faint “discomfort” coming from Clara. Clara still had calm disposition like before and now she also had knowledge that even Elena didn’t know about. At first Elena was rejoicing that she finally found someone who could talk at her level, but as she continued talking with her, she got the feeling that she was talking with a “different person”.

Her eyes when looking at Elena was changing from the previously pure affection in the past to a wary gaze at the present. “Something” happened to Clara during these two years. And Clara was hiding that “something” from her.

In order to ascertain what it was……or to be more accurate, wanting to return their relationship to be like before, she forcefully poached a maid who Clara was looking with the same kind of wariness like when she looked at her. She had no firm basis behind her action. It would be fine even if she was wrong. That pink colored hair was the same color with the hair of the queen two generations before that Elena saw in a portrait when she was even younger than now. She was secretly harboring a longing that pink haired color was better than golden hair.

The name of that pink haired girl was Aria. She didn’t ask her age but if she was a commoner than should be around ten years old. Her appearance wasn’t that different from the current Elena who had grown quicker due to her magic power. Aria’s eyes left a deep impression in her……even Elena who was used to seeing beautiful and gorgeous people considered Aria to have a lovely look, and yet her jade green eyes were containing powerful strength that was opposing something.

At the inside Aria was also different from the normal children. She possessed a calm and coolness that were unthinkable for a child, and yet she looked at other people with great attentiveness. She would immediately notice when Elena wanted something and approached her.

Perhaps this feeling was sympathy. Aria’s way of life that could even be called aloof gave her a feeling of relief to Elena who had continued to fight in solitude, that she wasn’t alone by any means.

There was that one time when another maid dropped something. Aria instantly moved to protect Elena. It made her thought that perhaps Aria was a bodyguard maid of the dark side that she heard from rumor.

And then about Clara, it seemed that her guess that it was Aria who was bothering her was right, but before she could ascertain Clara’s reaction, Clara was the one who distanced herself away from them. Did she have trauma with Aria’s hair color? But, she thought that she didn’t mind it even if that was the case. Right now rather than the matter of Clara, Elena wished to be together with Aria who was the only one in this world who had the same point of view with her.

That was why she got the idea to go outside by her own initiative after so long. But, no matter how smart she was, Elena was still just a child. The emotion that she couldn’t control became carelessness that came to bit her.

.

Elena who should have become a part of the royalty faction was still considered as the hope of the noble faction. At the same time her existence was nothing but a hindrance for noble house that wanted to raise a new symbol to unite the noble faction.

Using some kind of drug, the handmaids in the dressing room fainted and even Elena had the freedom of her body taken away. The culprit was the staff who should be measuring her body. That woman put the unmoving Elena on her shoulder, moved aside a furniture, and easily took her outside from a hole in the floor.

Where did the information of Elena’s visiting place leak from? None of the servants hired should be related to the noble faction, but she saw one of the maids while she was taken away and guessed that she must be the one leaking the information. When their eyes met, she glared at the maid to express that she would never forget her face. At the same time Elena produced light magic particle from the magic stone in her heart to attempt neutralizing the poison by flooding her whole body with it.

「Oh, you can move already? As expected from the princess who is rumored to be excellent.」

「……You aren’t going to kill me?」

She was able to neutralize the poison somewhat, but her body still couldn’t move. Elena had learned light sorcery until she was able to use level 2 at her age, even so she couldn’t fully remove the poison even using Treat unless she understood what was the poison used.

Even so, if the kidnapper realized that she could move, then it would be better for her to gather information rather than staying quiet.

「This is the request of my client. In the first place if it’s a murder request, then I won’t accept it even if the request comes from the guild.」

The female staff was unexpectedly talkative. She even grinned cheerfully with her unimpressionable face while winking to her. She wouldn’t kill her. There were only two types of people who took job through guild. Either they were adventurer or──

「……Thief?」

「Exactly. Even though we are scouts who become pet dog that wag our tail to a country or feudal lord, we are different from the uncivilized assassins who know nothing except killing. I am a proud thief who have polished my technique until the level of art.」

She said that a noble made a request to the thief guild. Unlike adventurer scouts who fought with monster or even assassins who polished their skill in facing other human to the extreme, the thieves polished their skill in infiltration and stealing. People like them were perfect for kidnapping mission.

「It’s fun talking with a clever and cute girl but, stay quiet until we get out of the city okay? I’ll give another dose of poison to you now but you can also struggle if you want? I’ll really hurt you in that case.」

「……kuh」

Considering her capability, it would be pointless even if I struggled. But, at this rate she would get handed off to a noble somewhere. Most likely she would be forced to sign something and had all information squeezed out from her before getting disposed.

Her tongue felt slightly numb and she didn’t know whether she would be able to activate magic. She couldn’t do anything, even so Elena glared at the female thief. The woman made a delighted face seeing that and just as her hand was about to touch Elena──

*Kan-!*

「「!!」」

A knife slid between the two of them and pierced the carriage. The female thief deflected another knife with her short sword. Elena and the female thief’s gazes instantly turned toward the direction the knives came from. The figure of a girl with pink blond hair wearing slightly loose maid uniform was reflected in Elena’s blue eyes.

「……Aria-!!」

I threw a knife to interrupt the female staff’s hand movement, but I couldn’t even scratch her even though it was a surprise attack. However I confirmed Elena’s safety hearing her calling my name.

「Hee……I thought I still have a bit more time until someone catch up to this point but, could it be you dived into that hole to chase me until her?」

「…………」

I didn’t reply and took a stance with my black knife. Far from getting angry, the female staff clapped her hand while laughing happily instead.

「A maid-chan, nice-! I never thought that I would be able to meet two uncommonly cute girls with this kind of work-! This is why a job from noble is interesting-」

I observed the strange woman while gathering the necessary information. Her age seemed to be around the middle of her twenty. She had darkish red hair and brown eyes. She seemed to have a nice look, but the impression that I got from her on the whole was that she seemed forgettable if I took my eyes off her. She wasn’t that tall and her body build was slim just as I expected. She must have stopped with her acting, if she moved then it would be obvious from even over her boutique uniform that her body was covered with supple muscles.

Judging from her traits, as expected she must be a scout or a thief. The kidnapping this time too, had they been watching that shop the whole time since before? Or else, had they positioned people with forgettable look all over the place to make it easier to replace them?

The woman looked like she was doing this alone, but considering all the information, I guessed that there was an organization behind her. In that case I couldn’t allow the woman to get away from here. If she managed to get out of the city, it would be impossible to follow her track. Who was this woman? She felt overly brazen to simply be a kidnapper aiming for money.

「This woman is someone from the thief guild-, she is using poison so be careful-!」

When Elena exposed her true identity, that female thief smiled wryly and looked at Elena. She shrugged with a dramatic gesture. ……I see. So she was a thief who specialized in kidnapping, here because of a request from a faction that was Elena’s enemy.

.

▼ Female Thief   Race : Human 

【Magic Power : 174/180】【Stamina : 155/170】

【Overall Combat Strength : 388 (With Body Strengthening : 440)】

.

It was better than facing an assassin, even so she had higher combat strength than Castro. Certainly her combat strength was high, but judging from her magic power, it wasn’t that high. If I remembered right, from what Viro told me, thief had high stealth type skill and martial art type skill, but there wasn’t that many of them who specialized in battle. If this female thief was also someone like that, and from the degree of increase from her body strengthening……I predicted that her close quarter combat skill was equal to level 2.

If she had short sword skill level 2, depending on how I fought then she wasn’t an opponent who was completely beyond me. However, if she had combat strength this high with close quarter combat skill level 2, then perhaps……it might be better to assume that she had level 3 in earth sorcery that she used to dig hole.

A rank 3 thief……normally she was an opponent that I wouldn’t fight, but I couldn’t possibly withdraw from here. It seemed Elena was safe but she couldn’t move. Her speech also sounded a bit strange, so she must have her freedom of movement taken away by a drug and she also couldn’t use sorcery.

「I won’t chase if you let Elena-sama go.」

「You plan to negotiate with that? You’re a kid as expected……is what I want to say but, I don’t feel like going along with your attempt to buy time. My principle is to not kill in work but……sorry if I fail in holding back okay?」

「Tsu!」

The female thief’s left hand slightly blurred. I felt something like a killing intent for an instant and dodged by bending back. A thin knife passed away right before my eyes. I couldn’t see any preliminary movement from her just like with Castro. I had also trained but the number of times I could use such movement well could be counted including the time I used it against the hobgoblin.

But, I didn’t even have any time to ponder like that. I sensed earth colored magic particles rose from the female thief. The female thief unleashed her sorcery at the same time when I dodged.

「──Stone Bullet ──」

The instant I heard those activation words, the earth colored magic particles spread to the surrounding. Several pebbles shot from the ground toward me.

「Kuh!」

I used body strengthening and martial art to twist my body and dodged the pebbles. Then I backed away even further and crouched with one hand on the ground.

「Coolll, I didn’t expect you to dodge them all-」

「…………」

A trickle of blood flowed from my forehead to my cheek. ……I couldn’t dodge all of them completely. At the very least my forehead was grazed and my shoulder was also hit. My stamina also decreased but I still didn’t use Heal.

So this was attack sorcery……this was my first time actually seeing it but, I might be rendered unable to fight in one attack if I was hit fully. She might use throwing weapon to hold back the opponent and give herself time to chant, or chanting while fighting. I studied her way of using sorcery in battle while memorizing the enemy’s sorcery usage pattern at the same time.

My shoulder that got hit by a pebble also could move……the blood on my forehead also didn’t enter my eyes, so I ignored it and took a stance. The female thief thought that I was going to attack and hugged her own arms while her body was shaking as though she was holding something back.

「Nice, so nice-, maid-chan. The bright red blood flowing on your pretty cute face……this is why I’m not suited with killing. Anguished face excited me more than killing that I subconsciously ended up tormenting my opponent……especially with a cute kid like you.」

「…………」

……I see, she was a pervert. I heard that thief wouldn’t kill civilian, but it seemed some among them were simply unsuited for killing. But there wasn’t a single factor that reassured me after knowing that. In fact Elena was turning so pale she couldn’t make any voice.

「Now, how about we begin?」

The woman pulled out a short sword and moved to the right with a movement that looked like she was sliding on the ground. With a knife in hand, I also matched that movement and began walking to the same direction soundlessly. Perhaps because of her deviant hobby, the female thief seemed to hope for a close quarter combat and didn’t use sorcery.

This was far better than her using level 3 sorcery, but there was a chance she would hold me back with direct attack and used sorcery like before, so there was no way I could let my guard down.

Even if she only had around rank 2 combat strength in purely close quarter combat, her combat strength wasn’t just for show. Because she would be able to kill me in one attack if she used it as a trump card.

「「-!」」

*Gakin-!*

The two of us who were slowly closing the distance leaped forward at the same time. The blades that lunged at the same time scattered sparks from the clash.

But, I stepped back for several steps as though I got flicked away due to the difference in skill level and body build. The female thief didn’t let go of that opening and slashed. Matching that I also threw a throwing knife with my left hand, but the female thief had also predicted that and changed the trajectory of her short sword to deflect the knife.

「──Dust──」

The female thief used sorcery. She might have chanted the spell while moving. Dust was blowing toward me.

This was bad. For me who was looking at magic particles from their color, having my sight blocked would sharply reduce my detection capability. I hurriedly took distance but the sorcery’s range was wide. I closed my eyes to cover my face with resignation that it couldn’t be helped even if I got hit by an attack. Then at the next moment, I felt an impact on my abdomen and my body was blown away by several meters.

「Aria-!」

I heard Elena’s scream. However I couldn’t move immediately after getting my stomach kicked.

「……Gehoh」

I rolled on the ground while reflexively choking from the pain. The footsteps that were approaching soundlessly got slightly louder.

「Nice, niceee! I’ll carve you up properly this time-!」

That voice taught me the location and distance of the female thief from me.

*Hyun!!*

「Wha-!?」

The thief sounded surprised. I also stopped the Heal that I was chanting during the combat and poured magic power into the string in my hand to reel it in while opening my eyes and throwing the “blade” at the end of the “string” toward the female thief.

「What is, this-!?」

The female thief couldn’t comprehend my “attack” and took some distance away in panic. However my attack couldn’t be avoided just by taking distance halfheartedly. I reeled the string once more and threw the second blade in a large arc. When the female thief’s attention was diverted to that, the knife that I threw at her stabbed her arm.

「Tsuu!」

I quickly reeled in the blade and hid it in my sleeve. The female thief opened the same distance like at the start and this time she faced me vigilantly. However, the female thief didn’t sport a ridiculing smile at me like at the beginning.

「……What’s that just now? Your sorcery?」

「Who knows?」

The weapon I used just now was the new weapon I made to replace the weighted cord. I soaked cotton threads of unbleached cloth with my blood, bundled several of them together, and by sending magic power into them, I became able to move the cord to some degree like with my hair.

I asked a servant of the castle who could do forging to melt several of the copper coins that were bent after I used them as weight in the weighted cord and fused them together into one lump. After that I patiently hammered the lump, shaved it, and polished it until it became a blade. My lack of sleep was mostly caused by this, but thanks to that, it became a weapon that moved in high speed using centrifugal force, making it difficult to perceive the blade. Its damaging power was low but it wasn’t so light that the opponent could simply ignore it. This weapon was just right to hold back an enemy.

「……Not bad.」

The first attack left a shallow wound on the female thief’s cheek. Her expression changed together with that flowing blood. The female thief threw away her red hair wig and from below it appeared shortly cropped dull silver hair that glistened under the sun.

As I thought, she was disguising herself using thief’s technique. I didn’t know whether it was sorcery or a skill, but even though her facial look didn’t change at all, she was able to look like a completely different person just with cosmetic and changing her gesture. Even the thief type skill couldn’t be underestimated.

Anyway, the opponent finally got serious. Normally it would be better to make the opponent underestimated you, but it was harder for me to face an opponent that I couldn’t measure. I’d draw out all the information of her after making her got serious and calculated the steps to reach victory.

When I fixed my grip on my knife with such thing, the female thief slightly narrowed her eyes.

「I already thought that you aren’t just a mere kid but……what are you?」

There was no meaning to give information to your enemy. However I gave a frivolous reply instead in order to make her focus on me.

「I am……just an orphan, and just an adventurer.」

I turned my gaze just slightly toward Elena who was watching me fixedly, then I quietly held my black knife in a stance.

「I’m just a 『combat maid』 who is given the job of protecting her and killing the enemy.」

The way the female thief looked at me slightly changed from those words.

I heard that the definition of 『bodyguard handmaid』 was to constantly stay at their master’s side to protect them even if they had to use their own body as a shield. And then, someone like Sera who cornered her master’s enemy and annihilated them mercilessly was called 『combat handmaid』.

From the female thief’s reaction, the maids and handmaids protecting nobles and important people must be the symbol of hate for them.

I still wasn’t strong like Sera. However in order to take back Elena, I intentionally called myself a 『combat maid』 instead of bodyguard maid.

「Hee……a combat maid, eh」

*Tann!!*

「Kyah!?」

Suddenly the female thief threw her knife to the carriage while keeping her gaze on me. Elena’s scream came from behind the wooden plank that was stabbed by the knife. I could see magic particles dispersing from that place.

「What a tomboy princess. I can hear your spell’s rhyme even though you suppress your magic power and voice you know? The next time you try something again I’ll use sorcery to──」

*Hyun!!*

「Tsuh!」

When I threw the blade attached string from my side using centrifugal force, the woman whose focus was distracted for a moment bent back to dodge it.

「Don’t look away. Your opponent is “me” right?」

「……This brat」

The female thief’s focus returned to me. I shook my head slightly at Elena who was looking this way to tell her 『Don’t do anything』.

「You’re right……there is also no time, let’s end the game here.」

The female thief said that and flung away her boutique uniform. Her look changed to a leather suit that clung tightly on her body.

Certainly it was harder to move in a loose cloth. I also felt my movement was getting hindered when I still wasn’t used with the maid uniform, but this kind of outfit also had its own advantage.

The female thief threw away the short sword she was using and pulled out two new daggers. They were giving off an unnatural luster. Most likely it was “poison”. Even poison had types, but if it was a poison that was used by this female thief, I got the feeling that it would be bad even if I just got grazed by it.

*Hyun!*

「That attack again-!」

The female thief leaped away when she sensed the attack. I controlled the string to hold back the female thief from putting me into her range. The female thief too, even though she didn’t know the true identity of the attack, she had guessed that it was a projectile weapon and dodged just from its presence.

My trump cards right now were only this string and illusion magic. I wanted to inflict some kind of damage when using one of those trump cards, the string for the first time, but in the end I could only use it to hold the enemy at bay without any other effect.

But, even though I was aware of her poison and keeping my distance, this female thief had sorcery. Right now she was still unable to see through the centrifugal force’s speed, but if the true identity of this weapon got exposed, she would immediately deal with me using sorcery.

Even so I had no other way. My only option was to continue attacking with the weapons I had in hand to create an opening.

「──Snare──」

「-!」

The female thief used sorcery in order to escape from the string’s blade. A hole was suddenly opened under my feet and I lost my balance. Even then I rolled and dodged that sorcery, but the female thief didn’t let go of that opening and threw a dagger.

I was on my knee without being able to stand up, so I used my knife to deflect the dagger. But the female thief charged forward at the same time when she threw the dagger. She showed a big preparatory stance by drawing back her knife to the back, and then she unleashed a “thrust”.

「──Double Edge──!!」

It was short sword Battle Skill level 2, Double Edge. Its range was no different than a normal thrust, but the skill gave an explosive increase at the thrust’s instantaneous force and speed, and it made it possible for you to launch two consecutive thrusts.

I couldn’t dodge this attack while I was unbalanced like this. But──

「Wha-!?」

My body that was crouching low on my knee slid right to the side. The female thief’s Battle Skill only tore my skirt. Normally I wouldn’t be able to dodge. But the female thief was anxious because she had little time left. I had predicted that rather than using spell that took time to activate, she would rely on Battle Skill that had attack power. That was why I kept my feet hidden behind the widely spread long skirt and used the footwork that I learned from Sera so I could dodge the attack.

Although I sad predict, half of it was based on instinct. But, there was no option of letting go of this opening where the female thief had missed with her Battle Skill.

I firmly supported my body by solidly planting my knee on the ground and twisted my upper body while pulling my hand to behind me. The female thief’s face slightly twisted when she realized what I was going to do.

「──Thrust──!」

I only used Battle Skill when an opening that would allow me to land a finishing blow with certainty appeared. If the enemy intentionally gave me such an opening, there was no reason for me not to use the Battle Skill.

「Tsk!」

But, the Thrust that I thought would land was dodged when the female thief bent her body to the side.

The information that there was a skill called 『Flexible Body』 surfaced in my head from the knowledge, but it was outside my expectation for it to be used to dodge in a weird way like this. Even so the female thief couldn’t completely dodge and my Battle Skill shallowly tore her flank. Then the female thief continued falling aside as she let out a sharp kick from that posture.

The table was turned. I who had just performed a Battle Skill couldn’t move. With an instantaneous judgment, I intentionally allowed my floating waist to be kicked and opened a distance while using the momentum to spring back on my feet.

But, at that moment the female thief also got back on her feet and began chanting spell. I judged that she was planning to use a powerful sorcery from the amount of magic particles. I swiped my skirt and pulled out a knife to throw, but the female thief finished her sorcery a moment faster.

「──Rock Skin──」

*Gin* There was a hard sound. The throwing knife was deflected by the female thief’s leather suit. It wasn’t an attack sorcery but defensive one. When I threw my string blade to ascertain the effect, the female thief grinned and swiped away the blade with bare hand.

「Hee……. A blade attached on a string……a pendulum? Looks like you’re using something interesting, but this kind of shrewd attack won’t work anymore on me.」

「…………」

Was it sorcery effect just now……. The female thief’s appearance didn’t change, but her whole body was being covered with earth element magic particles. Perhaps it was a sorcery armor guessing from the effect.

「It’s already over. Really……I never even dreamed that a rank 1 kid will give me this much trouble. You even made me used my trump card, so let me hear a pretty cry at the very least. I’ll hurt you a lot!」

The female thief sported a twisted smile while starting to chant a spell again. I threw my string blade to hinder her, but the female thief didn’t even dodge and the blade bounced back when it hit her cheek. I didn’t know what kind of magic it was, but I started running to make it harder for her to target me. It was then the female thief finished her sorcery at the same time.

「──Stone Bullet──」

「-!」

Several small stones shot out from the ground. I crossed my arms to protect my head and leaped aside to dodge, even so some of the stones hit me directly and I tumbled on the ground.

「Kuh……」

「You are really persevering for a kid……fufu」

My stamina was still remaining, but the wounds on my body and stamina were two different things. Even if my stamina ran out, I would only faint and became unable to move, but I wouldn’t die immediately. But conversely if my heart was stabbed, then I would die even if my stamina was full.

The Stone Bullet inflicted blunt damage, so it wouldn’t give me serious damage as long as I protected my vital parts. Even so it was difficult to dodge that many stones. And if even one of them hit my vital spot, the next one would take my life for sure. I wasn’t at a state to buy time anymore. None of my attack did anything, while the opponent could kill me easily using a single dagger or any kind of sorcery.

「I wonder if you have run out of trick already? You fought well for a child, but you seem like someone who will be a massive pain in the future, so I’ll kill you here.」

「…………」

I had one more “trump card”. However, the condition to use it still hadn’t been fulfilled. In order to use it too, I continued to analyze the enemy’s ability without giving up.

There wasn’t really any information in the “knowledge” regarding sorcery armor, even so when I gathered any scrap of knowledge about it, it seemed that such sorcery would either cancel damage within a certain degree, or reduce the amount of damage within a certain time limit. Most likely the woman used earth element so I thought her sorcery operated in a way of the former. The person said that it was her trump card so it was a level 3 sorcery and she should have absolute confidence in it. That was why I believed that must be making her careless. I continued to shave off the sorcery armor even while enduring the pain in my whole body.

「Ahaha, pointless, pointless!!」

The knife that I threw and even the string blade that she called pendulum were all bounced back by the female thief’s skin.

The female thief charged forward without putting up any defense. I tried enduring using martial art if my weapon didn’t work, but my damaged body was unable to move like it should. The female thief’s dagger grazed my shoulder.

「Tsu, ……aAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!」

A terrible pain assaulted me from that shallow wound. When I reflexively screamed from that pain, the female thief’s face warped in pleasure.

「Aa……you finally chirped. But don’t worry. You won’t die right away from this poison but……this poison really “hurt” right?」

「…kuuh」

The wound itself wasn’t deep and yet I groaned from the sharp pain.

My muscles convulsed from the terrible pain and I couldn’t even breathe well. A normal child would cry or faint from this but, I couldn’t allow myself to lose consciousness here.

……Just a bit more……

The female thief laughed condescendingly while kicking me who was unable to move properly.

I rolled on the ground, then I bit my lips while glaring at the woman and holding back my scream. The female thief shivered with an expression of ecstasy seeing that. Then she stepped on me who was lying face up.

「That’s so great, maid-chan. I want to play with you more……I want to hear you cry more. Even though I have to kill you quickly, even though there is no time……aa, even though I want to torment you more-!」

「…………」

「Aa, that face is so lovely! Let me hear your cry more-!」

The female thief raised up her arm with a yell and drove the poisoned dagger into my stomach deeply.

「AAAAAAAAAAH!!」

「That’s right, cry and chirp more! Show me that face twisted in agony more-! It hurt right? It’s agonizing right? Ahahahahahah!」

「-!!」

It hurts, painful, ……but I couldn’t faint here. Because……I finally finished preparing.

That was why……I’ll give it back to you.

.

「……Pain……」

.

When my darkness magic activated, the female thief made an astonished face for an instant. Then at the next moment, her face twisted horribly and she screamed like a slaughtered pig.

「Hiiih!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!! GYAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!」

Perhaps because she was a sorcerer thief who never really got into battle, she didn’t look like she had that much endurance for pain. The female thief who was standing in superior position until then was now rolling around on the ground while screaming madly without caring of her appearance.

Illusion type sorcery couldn’t reproduce something that the caster didn’t know about.

For example, with Noise I could reproduce any sound that I knew, and with Feel I could recreate the sensation that I had felt with my skin.

With Pain that I used, it was darkness magic that worked by filling darkness magic power with “pain” that I knew and firing it to make the target “hallucinated” a “pain”.

But, in order to use it, I needed to know of the pain coming when just barely holding on life. This magic didn’t deal physical damage although it granted pain. And even though the magic’s structure wasn’t that different from Feel, reproducing pain consumed more than 20 MP so it also couldn’t be used consecutively.

Even so I expected its effect to stop the enemy’s movement for several seconds, but the female thief’s mind was thrown into chaos because she didn’t even know where the intense pain that wasn’t hers came from. The magic even caused the effect of her nerves convulsing because of the trick of pain.

*Clang…….*

「…………tsu」

The dagger that stabbed my stomach fell. I also endured the same pain while putting strength into my trembling legs to stand up. My mind wasn’t strong against pain by any means. Even though I was feeling the same pain, the ray of light of hope that I finally saw uplifted my spirit and gave me the strength to endure the pain.

「Hiii, gaaa, sto, stop……don’t come..I can’t move…guaaah」

The female thief seemed to recover from her panic bit by bit. She was speaking haltingly while crawling away to take distance from me. But, perhaps she couldn’t put strength into her convulsing body. Her movement was slower than me whose stomach got stabbed and walking by dragging my heavy body.

I’d settle this here before the female thief’s nerve got used to the “hallucination” of pain. The female thief’s body was still covered with the sorcery armor. Blade and blunt weapon couldn’t damage her. But──

「Hih」

I wrapped a string around the neck and jaw of the female thief who tried to push me away. I wrapped the string over and over to fix it in place. I pushed down on her neck with my knee and then pulled the string with all my strength. Because of that blood spurted out from the stab wound on my stomach.

「Hia……sto, stop……help」

「None of that, you’re going to die here.」

I also mustered my last remaining strength. Using body strengthening and my knee, I pulled the string with the principle of leverage.

「Agaagagaaagagagaaaaah!!」

「──!!」

Even flexible body had limit. The female thief tried to endure with her neck’s strength even while convulsing against me who was exerting all my strength. I used my magic power control that became level 2 to pull the string with body strengthening on my whole body. The neck of the resisting female thief began to twist. That neck that was slowly getting twisted was──

*Snap……!*

Turning backward together with the sound like a piece of dried wood wrapped in wet cloth snapping.

「「…………」」

The female thief’s face that was stiffened in terror was staring at me dumbfounded. The radiance of life in those upside down eyes was quietly sinking into darkness with my expressionless face reflected on them.