Volume 2 - CH 6

What greeted me at the assassin guild underground the chapel is a girl in strange dress, sitting on a table that seemed to be created from scraped rock.

She seemed to be at the middle or the late of her teenage years. Her skin is surprisingly white with well-featured face. Her long black hair are arranged to look like a spring at both side of her face. The black dress she is wearing has over the top decoration. It’s really similar with what is called as 『goth loli』 in that woman’s “knowledge”.

「You are that evil race’s disciple right? It looks like you have quite the amount of mana, as to be expected from a sorcerer’s disciple but, I wonder if you can kill with combat strength of that level. Though it seems like you can at least serve as a knife throwing target.」

Just like how I’m observing this goth loli woman, she seemed to have analyzed me and insulted me with her crimson lips.

「Who?」

「You senior, sweet rookie. Be careful with the way you speak. I hate a brat who don’t know their place, so I might kill you by accident you know?」

「…………」

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▼ Goth Loli Woman   Race : Human 

【Magic Power : 115/120】【Stamina : 173/177】

【Overall Combat Strength : 242 (With Body Strengthening : 297)】

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She is strong despite her appearance. With this value, it feels like that she should at least have one element in sorcery, but I assumed that her fighting style is that of a rank 3 light equipment warrior or weapon thrower. Normally it’s rare for someone who isn’t twenty years old yet to become rank 3, so if she has this much combat strength at this age, she must be very skilled.

But, this is the guild’s assassin……?

「What’s wrong? Is the dark elf’s disciple can’t even give a “greeting” properly? You, it seems that your appearance is not that bad, so I don’t mind to make you my pet if you’re to my liking you know?」

The shape of the goth loli woman’s grinning lips distorted. She kept sitting on the table as she pointed her well polished black leather shoes toward me.

Is the “greeting” that this woman meant refer to 『lick my shoes』? Of course I don’t plan to do anything like that, but after that I’ll definitely get into conflict with this woman. ……No, perhaps that’s her intention from the start by provoking me like this.

I think, I can’t win against her if I fight her head on. Perhaps I’ll be able to win if I used all of my tricks but, I don’t want to expose my hands right now. Now then, what to do……. This kind of person would only get even more carried away if I acted humbly. Even so I don’t want to cause a problem in my first day just because of that…….

「Keira, what are you doing over there?」

A voice suddenly came at that timing. The goth loli woman turned around slightly toward that voice. I too turned my gaze toward that direction while still keeping my attention to the goth loli woman.

「……Dino, I’m not doing anything.」

「Then, what are you doing in this place?」

「I got nothing to do, so I thought of giving some pointers to the newcomer, that’s all. Fufu.」

「Is that so.」

The one who appeared was Dino who became the leader of this branch assassin guild. From their talk, this goth loli woman──Keira seemed like she came here whimsically knowing of my my arrival in order to meddle with me.

Apparently even though this is an assassin guild, not all of its members are taciturn professional. Keira’s expression kept changing frequently with whimsy before the pressure that she was radiating until now vanished. She then smiled sweetly.

Impression wise, this guild seemed similar with other guilds where carefree people gathered, but the people here seemed excessively strong willed compared to adventurer.

Dino slightly frowned at Keira’s attitude. He might be thinking that it would be pointless even if he questioned her any further. He avoided pressing at Keira and turned his gaze toward me once again.

「Welcome, my fellow apprentice. The assassin guild welcomes you, Aria.」

Dino spoke a welcoming sentence with an exaggerated gesture like a stage actor.

「Then the job?」

「……You are so stoic for a brother disciple of mine. Well, I’ll have you gradually relax more as time passed. First I’ll show you around this place. At this time there should be other guild members being present here too.」

「You can just let me do that in your place instead~」

Keira cut in from the side with an ingratiating voice while smiling at me. But this woman, she had been directing faint killing intent that only I could feel several times since Dino turned his attention at me.

Assassin……or rather, she is more like a murderer for pleasure. Why is someone like this in the assassin guild? Could it be, this kind of murderer is more common here compared to professionally trained assassin? ……Annoying.

「Both of you, stop quarreling. Private quarrel is forbidden inside the guild. There will also be punishment if you draw out your weapon toward fellow member, so be careful both of you.」

「Yee~s」

It seemed that Dino noticed Keira’s provocation. Keira only gave a casual reply when she was rebuked for that. She hopped down from the table as though she was only going for a stroll──

*Shu-!*

She came swinging with a knife that came out from her sleeve along with the momentum of her drop from the table.

It’s a playful strike that isn’t even using body reinforcement. I dodged it with the minimal movement of averting my face.

I didn’t even have a drop of trust for Keira from the start. There is punishment meant that there are people who would do something like that. All of this woman’s action and words can’t be trusted, but she is “reliable” in a sense because of that. I “believed” that Keira would try something.

I made several predictions based on the knowledge that something is coming. Keira’s knife grazed my cheek slightly, at the same time I also left a shallow graze on Keira’s cheek using my hidden weapon.

「──tsu!」

She must not have expected that counterattack. As both of our bloods scattered in the air, Keira leaped back to take distance from me. I kept her within my sight vigilantly while talking to Dino.

「You aren’t going to claim that I’m in the wrong here right?」

「……It can’t be helped.」

As expected Dino can’t give the order to not counterattack when getting attacked. He sighed in exasperation.

「My……my face, is scratched……」

Keira moaned in a low voice. Killing intent oozed out like thick mud from her whole body.

「This “ash covered” shitty brat-! How dare you against this me-!!」

Keira brandished her knife in a blurring speed.

「Keira-!!」

But, Dino’s angry yell stopped Keira who is about to attack me again.

「If you’re still going to continue, then your opponent will be me you know? You have been making problematic actions since some time ago but, if you’re going to cause another problem, you will become a purging target next.」

「……tsu」

Although she looked furious, as expected she is still not crazy enough to go against the assassin guild. Even so Keira doesn’t give any reply to Dino’s statement and kept glaring at me wordlessly with eyes that are filled with hatred.

Dino sighed again seeing Keira like that and turned once more toward me.

「Aria, you also shouldn’t answer the provocation of others. Well then, I’ll give you a light tour of this guild before talking about the job.」

「Got it.」

I wiped the wound on my cheek with my hand and started walking deeper into the guild following Dino who said that he will show me around. Behind me, Keira’s hatred filled gaze kept clinging at me until our figures vanished from view.

.

In the end I caused a problem but……that woman was really troublesome. I wondered if her face was really that important for her but, I guess just the fact that her important face was wounded by a kid like me must have injured her arrogant pride.

It will be really troublesome if there is only that kind of people in this guild, but during the light tour, I almost saw nobody else.

「There isn’t really anybody here.」

「Please don’t group this guild with adventurer guild or thief guild where even beginner can join easily. We are different from the hypocrite adventurer scout or the foolish thief who is driven by their greed.」

……Surely the scout and thief will also say the same thing about the others.

Based on the job characteristic of assassination, only people who have received special training can become assassin guild’s member. Special technique. Special ability. Only people who can kill their fellow human can reach the gate of the assassin guild, Dino said.

The number of adventurer in this Claydale Kingdom is tens of thousands including the rookies. As for thief guild, if beggars and criminals in the slums are included then the number will be even greater than that. But, for assassin guild, it seemed that even in this whole country there is no more than several hundred of them due to the peculiarity of the job. The assassin guilds also have observers and cooperators in every city that are hired by money but, those people who never killed will never visit this guild.

But, there is no accurate number of assassin. There are also freelancer killer out there, and there are also assassination squads that the nobles raised on their own. But, the biggest cause why their number can’t be grasped accurately because there are some who hid themselves after finishing and surviving a job and some who died for real.

According to master, the number of branches of this country’s assassin guild can be counted with two hands. It seems that this northern frontier district branch is also in charge of the assassination of the area including Dandall, but according to Dino, even this branch doesn’t even have a hundred of people who can be called members who will show up in here.

Even in a guild with this few member, if you searched then perhaps you will be able to find someone who can use Cure to treat Keira’s face, but even I can’t heal her wounded pride, nor do I have any intention to do such thing.

「…………」

There are few people here but, even so I’m feeling a few gazes from the darkness as I’m walking.

I’m being watched. They are trying to evaluate me. Am I really useful? Can a kid do something like assassination? What is my weapon? How much is my combat strength? And then can they “kill” me. I’m feeling such gazes evaluation me.

「Is something the matter, o brother disciple of mine?」

「It’s nothing……」

Dino’s lips slightly smiled. ……I already knew but, this person really has bad personality.

「Is that so? Then, let’s talk about the “request” that I originally was going to ask our beloved teacher to do.」

After going around for a lap, we arrived at a place that seemed like a break room with chairs in it. There Dino started talking about the job after we are seated.

The assassination target is a party of four adventurer pretender, the Mercenary of Twilight. I heard that they are a rank 4 party, but actually the rank 4 is only the leader while the remaining members are rank 3. Those guys are called as adventurer pretender because they aren’t proper adventurer, but recidivists of embezzlement.

Adventurers sometimes received request to gather precious material or item. But these guys, in case the requested items has greater value than the request fee, they would claim that they failed the request before absconded with the items.

But this time they tricked the wrong person. Their client this time is a noble. Apparently these guys collected the family heirloom that the noble requested before running off with it. I thought that the noble should just persecuted them as criminal and asked the adventurer guild to take care of this matter, but it seemed the collected item itself is a kind of item that will be bad if it become known by public. In respond, the noble client requested the assassin guild to recover the item as well as their assassination for revenge.

「First, just as I said at the beginning, I’ll test you to see whether you have the capability to complete this request or not. I’ll put my trust in you if you can assassinate them. But, if you fail or run away, I will ask Serjura to take responsibility in your place you know?」

「What’s the test?」

Dino threatened me slightly with words and pressure. Even so my expression is unchanging before that and I asked back dispassionately. Dino made a theatrical shrug seeing me like that.

「The client is a former adventurer. The assassination target is a trio of adventurers, but it has come to light that their actual profession isn’t adventurer. They are members of thief guild.」

That former adventurer got attacked by those thieves in a certain place. He got into a trap and his lover who was his childhood friend got killed. In order to catch the culprits, he pleaded his case to the city guards, but due to the peculiarity of that place, they judged that there was not enough proof and the culprits weren’t charged.

The client, the former adventurer despaired toward the surface world and made a request toward the assassin guild even if he has to be burdened with great amount of debt. He wished for the death of those thieves.

That place is a place that nobody will approach and it won’t be strange for anyone to die there……. Those thieves are a band of robbers who specialized in “rookie hunting” inside a dungeon.