Book 2: Chapter 8

Book 2: Chapter 8

Rookie Hunter

Welcome.

*Cling*the bell that was attached on the door rang. The middle aged shopkeeper frowned slightly at the appearance of the entering customer.

This place was a apothecary that was ran by an alchemist. Although this place was called an apothecary, it didnt only sell medicine to treat humans wound and sickness. It also sold herbicide or poison to kill mouse, and it also sold things like alchemy ingredient although not much.

That customer was wearing a worn out cloak that covered their whole body. The hood was also covering their face, but some customers occasionally also came here to buy dangerous medicine or substance, so the shopkeeper thought that this customer also that kind of customer.

No matter how suspicious the customer was, the shopkeeper couldnt afford to be picky. Especially the type of customer that came with their face hidden, in some case they might be a servant of a noble who intentionally wore dirty outfit to disguise themselves, so the shopkeeper was scared that carelessly driving them away would cause retaliation to him later.

Are you selling monster material here?

Well, I do butIm not selling anything other than alchemy material you know? If you want something rare, go to the adventurer guild or merchant guild.

From the voice the customer might be a young girl. She shook her head at the shopkeepers words and ordered materials that werent rare in this city and materials that were rare but still sold even in this shop.

You look young, but are you an alchemist? Thats a really unusual assortment of item you are asking for. If you dont mind, can you tell me what are you going to use them for?

The shopkeeper took out the ordered items from the back of the shop before he asked due to his curiosity as a fellow alchemist. The customer who was walking toward the door after paying the cost stopped for a bit and turned around a little.

They are just for exterminating bugs.

The territory of Count Sentrea is a main road on the route that connected the capital until the neighboring country Gordor Dukedom. The territorys capital is very thriving although not at the level of Dandall. Is it because its near the sea? There is a faint strange smell from the city. I realized that its the smell of salt from my knowledge.

My travelling outfit and cloak has become very dirty due to my training on the way here. Normally Id infiltrate the city from the slum district or some other spot, but this time Ill also stop by at the adventurer guild so I cleaned my body with Clean and entered the city from the front gate by paying a silver coin.

I guess Ill need to change my clothes too before long. Even after cleaning my attire, the city guard at the gate still looked at me funny. Thats just how tattered my outfit has become. Either way I need to dress up a bit better in order to lay the trap.

First I pulled down my cloaks hood low to cover my eyes and looked around at the condition of the city. Most of the citys main facilities are located along the main street. And then the adventurer guild will be at the side of the merchant guild no matter the city.

My targets are thieves who hunted the rookies. Most of their crimes are carried out inside the dungeon, so I need to obtain the dungeons information from the adventurer guild, but there is something that I have to do first before that.

To kill time until then, I buy things like soup and the like from food stands while also talking to the stall owners. From the m I learned that there is only one dungeon near here and bug monsters are living there.

Even if you call it a dungeon, there is nothing there that can become a local specialty here from hunting bugs like that.

There isnt anything good there?

No, not completely. I heard you can harvest medicine ingredient from the bugs organs. Its disgusting but it made medicines price to be cheaper so that helps. It cant be considered as local specialty though!

Hee

In this world, living thing that is strengthened by magic particle wont get sick easily. Even so the commoners can still get sick quiet easily, but most sickness generally is treated by drinking nutritious tonic and sleep.

That means, such ingredients can be harvested from the insects of this dungeon. In that case perhaps there are usable insect materials here. I asked at a shop of an alchemist that can be trusted and headed toward that direction too.

.

After buying alchemy materials, I slipped into the city at night and waited until it became dark. I arrived at my destination just before the first bell rang to signal that its midnight.

Its the biggest church in this city. The place is opened for the whole day. I entered inside the empty confession room and sat on a wooden bench. There I waited for the time.

*Gooooon*.

The clock towers bell rang once. I confirmed the faint sound of a magic tools key being unlocked. I crouched and lifted the seat that shouldnt be able to open. I collected the paper bundle inside and left behind several silver coins as the information fee. Then I returned the seat back to its original position before leaving the church immediately.

This is a big city so there are still people even at this kind of time, like in the bar, but there is nobody that can be seen around this area where the church is located. I stared at the street that should be empty and let out a small voice.

Hmm~

I erased my presence and entered the slum. I found an abandoned building and read the document that I collected in there.

This document contained the targets information that was investigated by the contacts here. The last date of the document is two days ago. If its just that long then this information can be considered as the latest.

The rookie hunting thieves, the Fang of Blade had down themselves in the adventurer guild here from the dungeon that is located two days from here.

Their cycle of work is rotating around a week where they would dive into the dungeon for three days and resting for three days, including the travel time. They would search for their next prey during that break time. The requirements of their prey are low ranked adventurer who doesnt number more than two. They would steal money and equipment from the nicely dressed targets while those with nice appearance would get kidnapped and sold as slave with the intermediary of the guild.

However, even if they are unable to find any prey that fulfill their requirements, they wont overdo themselves by targeting any random person. In that case they will do the activity of normal adventurer so that the people around them wont suspect them as thief.

Even so because of this times client accusation toward them, their evaluation in the adventurer guild has worsened. Even so there is no definite proof so they dont get punished, rather some of the rowdy adventurers even sympathized with them thinking that they got suspected by the wrong accusation of cocky beginners who took on more than they could chew. Thats what written in the document.

Because of the adventurer guild suspecting them, there is a chance that the Fang of Blade will change their base of operation, so its desirable if they can be taken care of quicklyhm.

Fire

I burned the paper before leaving the abandoned building.

I have decided what Im going to do to some degree. The rest depended on whether I have the strength to carry it out or not. I also found one other thing that I have to deal with but, in order to settle things including that, I sneaked into the shed of a private house and began making something.

.

The next day, after I cleaned my body with Clean, I visited a second hand clothes shop that seemed to be good that I found during my stroll around the city yesterday. I entered inside as soon as it opened.

Welcom

A young woman who seemed to be the shopkeeper froze seeing me entering the shop as soon as it opened while wearing slightly dirty cloak to hide my appearance.

Err, this is clothes shop for girl you know?

Its alright. Im a girl more or less.

When I pulled down my hood and showed my face to the slightly bewildered shopkeeper, she blinked repeatedly. Ive erased the illusionary ash on my hair. It seemed that in this state I at least looked like a girl and the dubious looking shopkeeper finally smiled again.

Are you a traveler? I thought you are a street urchin because youre dressed like that. If you want the same type of outfit like what youre wearing right now, then we also have clothes for boy here although we dont have that many of them. Look around as you pleaseor thats what I want to say, however there is still no other customer here so Ill help you look.

After realizing that Im a child, the shopkeeper changed her speaking tone to match by speaking informally. I myself am not really knowledgeable about clothes so her offer really helps me, but its not like I want to buy kiddy clothes.

Do you have clothes that can make me look feminine?

My purpose for buying clothes is to dress as woman. Describing it like that sound strange because Im woman by nature, but this time Im planning to especially dress up femininely.

There are two types of second hand clothes shop. Shop that resold cheap clothes worn by commoner, and shop that sell moderately good second hand items from wealthy merchant or low ranked noble. This shop is the latter and they have quite a lot of merchandises.

With the shopkeepers recommendation, I chose a stylish light green dress that is easy to move in. To match that I also chose high laced cloth boots and a new cloak. Although the shopkeeper grimaced at the tattered clothes that Im wearing to here, she allowed me to change inside the shop. When I came out of the dressing room, the color of the shopkeepers eyes changed.

Can I, fiddle with your hair for a bit?

I guess

Do you also want to try some make up, just a little is fine?

The female shopkeeper is breathing roughly for some reason. I got handled a lot by her and it took an hour after that when I finished with my shopping. Im feeling slightly tired, but for some reason the shopkeeper is smiling in satisfaction toward me.

.

When I entered the adventurer guild after finishing all of my preparations, the slightly noisy atmosphere quiet down and gazes of the type that I also felt on my way here are directed toward me.

The majority of this citys adventurers will either hunt monsters outside the city or head to the dungeon in order to obtain magic stones and materials. Even so the guild is also providing manual labor work at the harbor that pays quite well and bodyguard job, so many adventurers showed up at the guild in the morning to check the request.

But, only adventurers with good reputation can accept the profitable job. The low ranked adventurers accepted dangerous jobs in order to obtain reputation and died. The adventurer guild also doubled as a meeting place for adventurers who lost their comrade from such event or those who wanted to search for member to form a new party.

Previously, when I entered the guild together with Viro, the atmosphere felt like some adventurers would pick a fight with me if only Viro wasnt at my side, but this time the type of gaze toward me in different from that time.

Welcome to the adventurer guild. Do you want to make a request?

I want to register as adventurer. Im a level 1 light sorcerer.

The receptionists face slightly twitched at my statement. The sound of commotion is spreading through the guild.

One of my reasons to visit the adventurer guild is for fake status and name. There is a risk of Graves organization looking for my previously registered adventurer name. They should be thinking that Im dead but, its better for me to keep vigilant, and I can use the false name and guild card from here as disposable thing.

And then the other reason is to lay the trap.

The reason the receptionists face twitched because the number of sorcerer among commoner is few and there is a risk of young light magician to be treated as disposable by other adventurers, but thats exactly why this will become a bait for my trap.

Please come over here.

The receptionist said that quickly with hard tone and grabbed my arm to drag me to the back. As expected, she lectured me for announcing my ability inside the guild and the danger that would follow me because of that, but its already too late.

I understand. Then please give me the examination.

Y-you-The source of this content nov(el)bi((n))

I understand that she is worried for me but, I also have a reason why I cant withdraw here.

When I asked for the examination with a conduct that I learned from my maid training, the receptionist looked like she wanted to scold me again but, as a guild staff she cant refuse my request. After that I used Cure to heal a guild staffs waist pain and I became rank 1 light sorcerer Anya without incident.

From the start even Aria is a fake name but, I wont be troubled no matter how many fake identity I have. For adventurer who want to become famous, registering multiple times is simply pointless but, using fake name is only natural for people of the underworld.

.

Then please wait for around nine hours.

The slightly displeased receptionist told me that. To wait until the tag that will serve as my guild identification to be finished, Im looking at the wall where there are only heavy manual labor works like road building and the like remaining. As Im doing that, there are scrutinizing gazes that felt like they are licking all over me being directed at me.

Right now Im wearing light green dress and high laced boots with a thin cloak like a mantel covering me. My hair is down and Im holding an old staff that is used by sorcerer. There is a knife hanging on my waist and a leather bag hanging on my shoulder. With that the appearance of a beginner magician who is ignorant of the world is completed.

My height has grown even more and I have the appearance of an eleven year old child. Thanks to the shopkeeper of the second hand clothes shop working hard for some reason, she gave me her seal of approval that I looked like a twelve years old or a thirteen years old who is at the small side.

I used one golden coin for this disguise but, Ill be able to use it again for later, and the shopkeeper also gave me a large discount so lets just consider it as a gain for me.

There are these persistent gazes on me, but there is no sign of anyone approaching me. I tried to have the appearance of a young lady of a low ranked noble but, perhaps I should dress more roughly than this? But, I already registered with the guild and gathered this much attention, so I cant dress another way at this point, so perhaps Ill need to wait for several daysas Im preparing myself for such possibility, a hesitant voice called out to me from behind.

H-hey, you-, are you by any chance alone?

Yes?

When I turned around toward the voice, I saw that its an adultno, a young man who might be younger than that. He is perhaps around fourteen or fifteen and accompanied with other people of his age.

We, started being adventurer since this summer. But, all of us are vanguard and none of us can do any sorcery

Y-yep-

If you want, how about joining us

A miss.

My deepest apologies.

They arent my target. I faced them fully and lowered my head to apologize so as to not cause any offensebut, there is no respond. I wondered whats the matter and lifted my head. There the young men are frozen with red faces.

?

N-no, thats

Really, just whats the matter with them? When I tilted my head quizzically, the young man who called out to me first started to look flustered and gathered the attention from other adventurers too.

Like that the short haired man fell. He couldnt comprehend why he was falling. Did they step on a dungeons trap without noticing? But its fine. With Anya who can use light sorcery here, she would be able to heal him even if its poison.

The short haired man stayed down on the ground while reaching his hand toward Anya, looking for help. But, reflected in his eyes wasnt an angelic smile that would grant mercy. It was her looking down on them expressionlessly with a chilling gaze as she unsheathed a sharp black knife.

Inside a small room in the dungeon, I finished off the three men who cant move from poison by slitting their throats.

To prove the completion of the request, it should be enough to hand the threes tags to the client. It looked like I was able to finish them off surprisingly easily, but the cause was that they let their guard down against me. I dressed like this in order to make them careless but, I wouldnt be able to defeat them this easily if they suspected me even for just the slightest bit.

These three led me to a place where no other adventurer would come on their own, so I can just leave it to the monsters of the dungeon to take care of their corpses. Now then

*Hyun-!*

A blade was thrown at me from behind. I bent so low as though to crawl on the ground to dodge it. The crescent moon shaped sword passed above me and stabbed into the earth wall of the dungeon.

How about coming out already?

I stood up while calling out to the darkness. There the air slightly wavered and a man appeared as though he was oozing out from the darkness.

Strange. I was really confident with my Stealth but, since when did you notice me?

The one who appeared was the Cruzian youth who taught me a lot of things in the assassin guild, Guy.

Most opponent could be killed easily if they were targeted the moment they were careless when they finished their job. I could dodge that attack easily because I was on my guard against it from the start.

From the church last night.

So it was from the start huh-! Uwaa, I dont have any confidence now.

You can be confident. You were hiding properly.

Even so it wasnt at Viros level. Besides because he was skilled with it, the shape of human was properly visible to my eyes.

Even if Im told that by a kid

Guy scratched his head somewhat in frustration while looking at me with a cold gaze.

And, how did you sense my attack just now? Even if you noticed me, was it really possible to suddenly dodge after getting abruptly attacked like that?

Forget about that. Whats your intention?

What was thrown at me from behind was a weapon called scimitar that Guy had. I managed to dodge it but, I would die if I was unlucky.

Dont tell me, it was in exchange of greetingyou arent going to say that right?

No way.

Guy grinned and pulled out a second scimitar from his waist. He twirled it on his hand.

Its a request from Keira. She told me to give you a painful experience. She cant move because Dino is keeping her eyes on her, so Im here in her place.

As expected, he isnt thinking of going as far as killing me seeing that Im a hostage against master. No, if its Keira then she might try to do so but, thats why Dino is keeping his eye on her.

What, ash covered. You aint surprised? I was acting as a friendly older brother really well right?

Guy yourself arent surprised arent you? Did you notice my gender?

Ou, youre completely different when you dressed the part eh. I too would be totally fooled if I didnt know. Well, ordinary people might not notice it but, even if its a kid like you, but when you have grown until that big, those who are sharp enough will still notice. The position of the waist between man and woman is different.

Hee

I didnt know that. Ill use that as reference.

Even so, you finished the job too damn easily there. It seemed they were also poisoning you, and yet it was them who got killed with poison. Hopeless.

Guy approached and kicked the thieves corpses. He stopped moving just a step away from my range, with the corpses lying between us.

Even though I gave them really expensive sleeping drug that has no smell and taste, these damn incompetents-

With Poison Resistance you can endure poison to some degree, and if its sleeping drug then I can guess what is its ingredients somewhat. I wondered how could these guys had such strong poison but, if it was because of Guys involvement, it gave me a glimpse at just how serious Keira was.

Well, you ran out of luck because you are too capable like this. It was your misfortune that you caught Keiras attention. Even she will be satisfied if you got a big scar on your face, so just quietly let yourself get scarred. Just remember from now that a brat shouldnt put on air too much. You wanna live long right?

Guy took a stance with his scimitar and gradually let loose his killing intent. This mans mana was low, but his status was purely high. He was a troublesome opponent to get into a head-on confrontation with.

I dont care about that butI havent mentioned the reason why I wasnt surprised and could dodge the surprise attack just now right?

Hm?

Guy stopped moving for a bit from my words while taking a stance where he could attack any time.

You see

I strengthened the magic that I have been using the whole time since several minutes ago.

Thats because I believe if its that woman, she absolutely will try something.

Haa? A? A!?

Guy was about to take a step forward while making a puzzled face when he fell on his knee and raised his voice in confusion.

W-what? Dont tell mepoison!?

Guy glared at me with a bewildered gaze because his feet suddenly cant move.

Since when? You shouldnt have any time to use this kind of powerful poison-!

Guy too must at least have Poison Resistance if he is an assassin. Even so poison should still work on him if its a powerful one, so he should be on his guard against me who used poison. Powerful poison also has strong smell or taste, so it cant be mixed with food. Its possible to smear it on weapon, but Guy hasnt gotten attacked yet.

That was why Guy misunderstood that I gradually administered the poison to the rookie hunters with a way like mixing it into their food.

Why is my feet cant moveshit-

Its the nerve poison that master created. Its really effective even though you have Poison Resistance right?

If he has no Poison Resistance, his mind will also become hazy just like the rookie hunters and even his internal organ should stop functioning. Conversely because he has Poison Resistance, Guy couldnt notice the poison at its early stage.

If its poison then I have been using it the whole time.

I threw the porcelain jar that I brought with me as spare. The thinly created jar broke in front of Guy.

This is-!

You realized? Its an insects scent gland, but you have experience of sniffing it right?

This liquid has bad smell but with a faint sweet scent mixed in. I purchased it from the alchemists store. It was an item that was made from processed scent gland of a monster caterpillar that it used for marking its turf. In this dungeon, this smell can be found anywhere. Diluted it can become agricultural chemical and undiluted it can also become monster repellant.

I used this monster repellant to avoid the monsters that could get in the way of the assassination. And then

If there is a smell this strong, then even poison with strong smell wont be noticed if its spread out thinly

Ash coveredyou, dont tell me

Guy noticed what I did and opened his eyes wide.

You are saying that you were spreading poison even knowing that you would also get poisoned!?

Masters poison is powerful. Its not something that can be endured even if you have Poison Resistance. But I know about the poisons substance.

Even now I have been using Treat the whole time. It wont have any effect if I dont understand the poisons ingredients, and its effect is a weak one that can only erase the poison gradually, but its possible for it to treat the effect of a vaporized poison if its used immediately. Even so I would get violated by the poison if my focus wavered, and it also caused me to be unable to fight properly, but I staked my life into this gamble and won.

Guy realized that and glared at me in astonishment.

Hahaare you sane? Using poison that also affected yourself, are you touched in the head huh?

Im aware.

Oi oi, are you serious? You are seriously going to kill me? I was just going to hurt you a little and then consider everything to be water under the bridge you know? Do you know what gonna happen to Serjura by doing something like this?

Just like how Im a hostage against master, master is also a shackle that binds me. Thats why Dino and Guy are thinking that master and I cant go against the assassin guild. But

Guy, youre an assassin, and yet yourenave huh.

What

I threw another jar at Guy. Thinking that its poison, Guy swung his sword with his upper body that can still move. He tried to repel away the jar without breaking it.

*Gashan-!*

Kuh

The tip of the pendulum that I threw at the same time with Guys sword damaged the jar. It then got smashed by Guys sword and the content is scattered.

Its notpoison? Whats, this smell?

The poison I spread in this room should disperse soon. I can add more butthere is no more need for that.

Tsu!

Guy might notice something too. I dont attack Guy and backed away deeper into the room. I pressed my back on the dungeons wall, used Stealth and folded my arms while watching. Guy panicked and began to struggle.

Ten secondsthirty secondsI dont need to count until one hundred when I heard the sound of ground rumbling. The short-tempered monsters couldnt even wait until the poison dispersed and approached near.

Ash covered-! Are you, insane-!? If you do something like this, youll seriously turn the assassin guild into your enemy!

Guy desperately tried to escape from the point where the chemical was scattered, but he couldnt even take three steps away.

What I first scattered was monster repellent that was collected from monster caterpillars scent gland, but scent gland doesnt just produce scent to drive away external enemy. It will be only at a certain season but, the female also use this scent gland to call for male.

When this liquid that was created from females scent gland is mixed with the monster repellant, it will produce an intense pheromone type scent. And then it should call for the males in the dungeon.

This is my trump card that I created knowing that this is an insect type dungeon.

Die in this place.

Its pointless even if he used Stealth. Its only a little bit, but that liquid has definitely gotten stuck on Guy. A lot of monster caterpillars appeared and flooded into the room. They found Guy and he fought back with his scimitar.

Although his legs cant move, someone as strong as Guy wont be troubled by mere monster caterpillars even if there are several of them. But, what if dozens of them appeared? Furthermore the poison will circulate even more inside his body the more he moved. The monster caterpillars are also attracted by the smell and rushed closer one after another.

ASH COVEREDDDDDDDDD-!!

At the end Guy raised a scream of resentment and threw his scimitar at me. I dodged it and it stabbed on the wall. I used it as a stepping stone and jumped until the ceiling, away from the floor that is going to be crammed with insects soon. I stabbed my hidden weapon on the rocky wall and clung at the corner of the ceiling.

Raa

At the end Guy reached out with his blood covered hand and muttered something.

While grotesque noise of bone and flesh breaking is resounding, I turned toward Guy and answered his last question even though I dont know whether he still has any consciousness or life remaining or not.

.

From the start my prey is all of you.

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