Book 2: Chapter 19

Book 2: Chapter 19

Invitation From Darkness

It was the beginning of winter when I left masters house. The season has turned into early summer after the spring passed away. Ill turn into nine years old after one more season passed.

I spent five months to crush the assassin guild. I left at the same day from the territory of Count Heydale where the northern frontier district branch was located and headed to the territory of Baron Norf that is a neighbor of the territory of Margrave Dandall.

That noble is the client whose heirloom was stolen by Mercenary of Dawn that I assassinated. Its not like I have awakened to the calling as assassin after this late butheirloomfor me whose parents died in an accident, something like that felt special for some reason. If possible I want to return the item to its family.

*Clatter*

I took out the heirloom necklace that I was storing inside my Storage so that it wouldnt be lost and stared at it.

Spirit Tearits a spirits magic stone that spirit who is erased from this world will rarely drop. This stone is also considered as gem. From the start its a magic stone with high purity, so it can also function as amulet if simple magic circle is carved into it.

Because of that its expensive and there were people who summoned spirits to hunt them, but many people got the table turned on them and died, and just the act of hunting the spirits who controlled this worlds principle is seen badly by the holy churchdue to Fandora Theocracy that is the headquarters of the religion, it was decided that not only trading, but even just possessing Spirit Tear is a sin.

Its not like that decision has any compelling force but, many of the light element sorcerers belonged to the holy church, so there is no statesman who opposed the decision openly.



Im not interested why Baron Norf can have something like this in his possession. He paid a great amount of money, forty large gold coins to regain this item. Even in the past, this item shouldnt worth that much. Then he must harbor a great feeling for family that pushed him to pay that much money for this.

Just in case I didnt stop by any large city. I passed through forests and small cities, taking around one week to arrive at the town where Baron Norf lived, but I didnt encounter any remain of the assassin guild.

Was I too cautious? No, I think there were only a few people who noticed that I destroyed the guild, but there is nothing better than being careful.

The cloak of monster leather that I bought in Gelfs store was destroyed in battle, so right now Im wearing a normal cloak that I purchased from a normal store. With my current appearance, there should be nobody who followed me based only on my appearance.

.

I paid one silver coin to enter the town, ordered a soup from a stall and ate it while asking around about the state of the town and the feudal lord. The portly female stall owner seemed to have free time and told me a lot of things.

You can see that mansion on the hill over there right? Thats the lords mansion.

Hee

I can see that mansion even from the street. As expected from a place that is close to a metropolis like Dandall, it looks even more splendid than the mansion of Baron Seylace where I previously went undercover as maid.

It might look small to the visitor who came from large city like Dandall, but this place isnt that bad you know? Though the tax has gotten higher in these several years.

Did something happen?

When I lowered my voices tone and asked, the owner who seemed like a gossip lover brought her face closer to me and lowered her voice in a whisper.

I think it was around two years agothe lords previous wife got attacked by bandits when she was travelling to another territory in a carriage. She died from that.

Previous wife? Bandits?

Oh, so you also dont know about that? The current madam is the second wife you know? And then, after that the lord gathered a lot of people like the knights and the adventurers to form a large scale subjugation force. They took down the bandits but, it looked like the lord really overdid it. Apparently he borrowed money from a company with a bit of bad reputation.

Sounds bad.

At that time the heirloom got stolen by Mercenary of Dawn, and in order to pay the request fee to the assassin guild, he might have borrowed money from that company.

I dont know how much of that is true okay? But, after that the merchants daughter lived in the mansion as the lords second wife you see. And after that the tax got raised, so it became a rumor that the lord is unable to go against his current wife.

I see

Well, this town isnt that bad, so if youre also an adventurer little miss, work hard to make this town prosper okay-

The female owner said that and laughed heartily. But.

You know that Im a woman maam?

Even though youre dressed like that, its obvious from a glance when youre that pretty little miss.

Im wearing a cloak that covered me until my ankle just in case. Half of my face is also hidden behind a shawl. And yet I still completely looked like a woman?

Putting that aside, the barons reputation isnt bad based on the information I obtained. Nobody is talking bad of him even after he raised the tax somewhat. His government must be that good until now.

Was the tax increase because he was made to do it by his second wife in order to collect the money?

Although the companys reputation is bad, its only natural for a company to seek much profit after lending that much money with bad prospect of payment, so it doesnt bother me. It was the barons decision to borrow money from a company with bad reputation and making request to the assassin guild, so it all depend on the baron of what he will do after this.

Im simply coming here to return the heirloom to settle things.

Other information said that the baron has a single daughter, so perhaps it will be easier to hand the heirloom to that daughter rather than to the baron himself.

.

For now lets go check this barons mansion first.

I entered the town as an adventurer, so perhaps I should show up to the adventurer guild, but perhaps there will be a record of me visiting here if I came to the guild even if I used fake name, so it will be better if I dont drop in this city anymore in the future.

Even though I came to return a heirloom, I didnt knock the front door and waited until it became night. Even using my eyes, I cannot see any magical protection over the mansion. Looks like it will be easy to sneak in.

Im thinking of such thing while deciding to leave this place temporarily. Its at that timing a voice suddenly addressed me from behind.

Are you perhaps, an adventurer?

Yes.

The one who called to me is a young woman wearing a dress that looked somewhat worn out. I noticed her approaching me but, the way she walked and also her presence arent any difference from ordinary person, so I ignored her thinking that it would look unnatural if I paid attention to her.

Aa, as I thought. Your atmosphere is different even though youre this young, so I thought thats the case.

After I nodded, that woman clapped her hands cheerfully and she laughed merrily.

Who?

Ah, Im sorry-, that was rude of me. I am the daughter of this lands lord, Nora.

The feudal lordslady daughter?

I never expected of encountering my objective this easily.

I unconsciously muttered seeing Noras cheerful atmosphere turned one eighty and she displayed an aristocratic courtesy. But then her atmosphere immediately returned to before and she waved her hand around in panic.

Dont mind it, although Im a noble, Im just a daughter of a minor baron, err

And, what is your business with an adventurer like me?

Ah, yes, rightI was thinking that I want to try speaking with a female adventurer if I encounter one. If you dont mind, can you lend me a bit of your time?

Got it.

By all rights I shouldnt get involved with her. But, for some reason I felt something like anxiety in her tone when she said want to speak, so I ended up agreeing.

But I forgot. Although Nora is a daughter of a baron of small territory and she herself is someone amiable who doesnt act like a noble, she is still the young lady of a baron house that ruled over a population of more than ten thousand.

There is no way a talk with such noble lady would end up with just standing around at the side of road.

.

Sorry that I can only give you tea that I brew myself.

no problem

Nora personally brewed tea for me in a room inside the mansion that seemed to be a living room.

I had no choice other than entering the mansion. Lets think positively. More importantly why is she brewing the tea personally instead of telling a servant to do it?

Its not impossible for a barons daughter to do such thing if she has experience of serving as a maid for the royalty or the like, but her outfit that is unbefitting for a nobility and the way she was gone to an outing alone without anyone accompanying her might have something to do with it.

You seeIll have to marry soon. Im a nobles daughter, so Im not objecting of being married to someone who my parent decided for me butIm feeling a bit fainthearted now. So I wanted to hear a story from adventurer who has gone to a lot of places.

What do you want to hear?

I talked to her as an adventurer about some harmless things just as she asked me, then Nora too started to talk to me about herself bit by bit.

It seemed that she already has a fiance since she was small. Her fiance is the third son of a baron house who planned to marry into her family. Both of them dont dislike each other but, last year, it seemed her fiance was changed because of some reason.

It seems he has also talked with his parents butits no good. Both of us are noble. We cant go against our family

Nora said that brightlyshe made a lonely smile.

I see

I dont understand the subtleties of romance. But, I somehow understood that Nora is still thinking of her fiance from before.

Nora-san, what are you doing?

It was then, the door opened without the person even knocking first. A woman who seemed to be at her late twenty with gaudy outfit entered the living room.

Step mother

Oh, you have a guest.

That womanperhaps she is the second wife who came from the company that I heard in the rumors.

That woman is wearing a well-tailored dress unlike Nora. She saw me who had taken off my cloak and sitting on the sofa. After she realized that Im an adventurer in a glance, hmph she snorted and continued talking to Nora while ignoring me.

Have you finished with your errant to the company? You are engaged with my little brother after all, surely you have greeted him properly havent you? Linus will become the next baron, so you will regret it if you dont start buttering up him starting from now.

Yes

What are you doing with that kind of little girl in this

The second wifes voice stopped while she was in the middle of talking.

Im not doing anything. Far from talking, Im not even letting out any pressure.

But, that woman who turned her gaze at me might have seen something in my eyes as I stared fixedly without saying anything to her. She slightly stepped back and fear ran through her expression.

H-hmph, you brat lack manners-!

*Bam!* The woman slammed the door close and left with rapid footsteps.

S-sorry for that.

Dont mind it.

Although she was surprised by the second wifes attitude, Nora apologized apologetically and I shook my head lightly in respond.

She really doesnt need to mind it. After all I also dont mind it at all.

I parted from Nora and left the barons mansion. From there I sensed the presence of several people tailing me for a while.

Two peoplethis is too hasty timing wise even if that second wife arranged it right after our encounter. But, their number decreased by one for a short while before increasing once more into four people after a while. At the end their number has increased until around ten.

How about coming out?

I intentionally entered a back alley and called out when I arrived at an empty place. The men showed a bit of sign of surprise before showing themselves.

Well well, as expected from someone like you. You are the ash crowned arent you?

Who are you guys?

The people who appeared are dressed like inconspicuous commoner who can be found anywhere, but their atmosphere is telling me that they arent ordinary people.

The number of people who knew my true identity and called me ash crowned is limited. But, they gathered this many people just to contact a lone girl like me show that this wont be a peaceful conversation.

Among them is a man at the middle of his twenty who is the only one wearing a better outfit than the rest. He is the one who called out to me. He bowed his head with a pretentious gesture like someone playing in being a noble. Then she displayed a worm-like smile.

We are your pick up from the thief guild.

Why are people from the thief guild here? What does he mean by picking me up? In the first place how did they know about me?

There are a lot of things that I want to know but, that answer came from an unexpected place.

Wha-!? What do you mean by that, Linus-!

A man behind them raised his voice. The young who addressed me at the beginning called Linus turned around with a grin.

Aa, we are really thankful for your information you know? After all, not only we were able to learn an important information like the destruction of the assassin guilds northern frontier district branch this quickly, you even brought the information about the key figure who accomplished that.

That was because, you guys said that you will help me to take revenge-!

Fufu, did we say that?

LinusI knew that name.

More importantly, the voice of the man at the back is also familiar. When I looked toward there, I saw a man whose face and body are wrapped in blood soaked bandage. He is looking at me with a gaze filled with burning hate.

Aa, this man is.

The beggar huh.

Ash crowneddd!!



At that time Linus considered it as a good chance.

He didnt know what was the reason the child betrayed the guild but, the Ash Crowned who didnt possess any way to sell stolen item should come directly to the baron to sell it. Even though she was just a kid, if she was capable of performing such cowardly act, she would surely be able to understand the benefit of coming under the umbrella of the thief guild.

He would hint how the survivors and other branches would want to take revenge on her, and then obtained her combat strength and reputation under the pretext of protecting her.

He didnt care even if the actual strength of this Ash Crowned was actually low. Just the fact that they had the one who destroyed a branch of the assassin guild on their side would make the underworld to respect the thief guild of this town.

.

His plan went swimmingly at first. But Linus didnt realize that the mind and strength of a kid who could slaughter a whole guild was beyond the range of their understanding.

When he met the Ash Crowned for real, he saw that she was just a pretty girl around twelve years old with a trace of childishness still remaining in her looks. Even after hearing how she crushed the assassin guild, the thieves got a misunderstanding due to her cute appearance.

It was impossible that a girl like this was strong. They thought.

The ash covered girl suddenly bared her fang at Linus and his men. His comrades got killed one after another instantly the moment they became hostile.

Although thieves didnt specialize in violence, that was only compared to adventurer. A lot of them were formerly thugs or born in the slum, so they were far more skilled than the likes of mountain bandits.

Furthermore this time they brought ten people of rank 2 or 3 in order to give her a scare too. But, the fight ended in an instant. Without even a shred of hesitation, as easily as plucking a flower at the side of road, the way she was reaping lives as though she was dancing, it was terrifying but also beautiful.

In fact, the girl was beautiful. To a degree that he was so entranced that he forgot the pain of his slashed face.

But, the way she plucked lives without hesitation with that appearance that could even be called as lovely looked like a god of death who didnt belong to this world. The terror from the approaching hand of death made Linus abandoned his comrades who were being killed and ran away.

The sun was still high in the sky. If he could run and report to the guards patrolling the streets, Linus who was a companys head clear at the surface might be saved.

However, Linus also had a pride as someone who lived in the underworld. If he did something like that in a quarrel between fellow underworld residents, he would become unable to continue living in this world. He also understood that.

Such excuse crossed his mind, and so he decided to not to run to the guards. But in reality, somewhere in his heart he realized that it was pointless even if he did something like that.

That girl would definitely come to kill Linus.

If necessary, she would even slaughter everyone on his way to absolutely kill him.

The instant he saw the Ash Crowneds eyes, Linus realized that based on his instinct as a dweller of the underworld.

.

O-open-, open the door-!

He returned to the company where he served as head clerk and hanged the back door loudly.

L-Linus-san!? Youre wounded

Shut up, move aside-!

Linus pushed aside the man who opened the back door and ran into the building.

This company had been used since a long time ago by the thief guild of this baron territory as a cover. The thief guilds base moved to here when it was decided to ensnare the baron. Right now almost everyone here had been replaced with the thief guilds members.

Close the shop! She is coming!!

He ordered the shop to be closed in panic even though it was still evening, and chased out the few workers who didnt know anything. Then he began gathering weapons from the warehouse and prepared to fight.

Linus was holding his weapon tightly at the back of the store while trembling. He hadnt even got his wound treated. It made the remaining ten-odd thieves to look at each other in bewilderment.

Even though they were ordered to prepare to fight, the people who were good at fighting in this company had been taken out to accompany Linus. The remaining members here were only rank 1 or 2 who specialized in stealth or swindling.

Furthermore Linus wasnt in the state of mind to explain the situation, so the thieves inside the shop were in confusion. It was then a man in his prime who didnt wear any clothes on his upper body to show off his muscular build appeared from the back of the shop with half naked women clinging on him.

Whats going on here, Linus-!

Pops-!

That man was the leader of this baron territorys thief guild. He was also the one who picked the siblings from the slum and acted as their parent.

S-save me pops-! That thingthat woman is coming-!

Womaann?

Linus spoke in fear while clinging on him with a scared face that was soaked in blood. The thief guilds leader sighed in exasperation seeing that.

Looks like youve really messed up. Cant be helped. Oi, send an errand to gather the adventurer

Pops?

The leader stopped moving the moment he started giving instruction. Linus looked back at him dubiously.

But, what he saw there, how there were two knives that were stuck in the leaders throat and the area around his right eye turning black from the short arrow that was lodged there made Linus screamed reflexively.

The leaders huge body fell backward and landed with a loud thud. Nobody could comprehend what had just happened from how outrageous it was. Even the prostitutes beside the leader were dumbfounded. Then everyone in that place felt a faint breeze inside the closed area. It tempted them to turn around.

!?

Without anyone noticing, one of the roof windows had been opened. Outside of that windowwith the background of the ultramarine sky that was starting to darken, a girl whose hair was dirtied by ash was looking down on the thieves below with cold green eyes that froze them.

.

I came to kill you all.

A massacre occurred in the downtown of Baron Norfs territory.

First nine corpses were discovered at a back alley. Several guards who inspected eight of the corpses said that they belonged to a certain company. When the soldiers headed to that company, they found the shop closed even after morning came. When they entered inside, they found the corpses of more than twenty employees, including the company president and the head clerk Linus.

The casualties numbered more than thirty in total. It was the biggest murder incident that ever happened in this baron territory but, proof of participation in crime and documents of the companys involvement with the thief guild were discovered inside the company. And from how almost all of the victims were killed in one attack, the incident was treated as an underworlds dispute before it could become public knowledge.

Even if that company was the headquarter of this towns thief guild, another thieves from everywhere would rush here and built the thief guild again somewhere in the town.

Among them there should also be a lot of fortunate people who happened to not show themselves at the guild that day. They would say this to the new thieves who came to the town with a fearful expression.

.

Dont get involved with the Ash Crowned Princess.

Several months after the thief guild in this town was destroyed, the wedding ceremony of the only daughter of the feudal lord, Nora was being held in the mansion of Baron Norf.

The groom isnt a companys head clerk who became her new fiance, but her previous original fiance, the third son of a baron house with whom they had feeling for each other. With this she finally managed to make her desire came true.

Because Nora is the only child of the baron, he entered the house of Baron Norf as son-in-law and from here on he would learn how to manage the territory from the current baron as the one who would become the next baron in the future.

Baron Norf was moved to tears seeing Nora in wedding dress. There wasnt any wife accompanying him at his side.

Baron Norf was holding a small portrait of his wife who died several years ago. The second wife who joined the family after that got divorced after the company she came from was closed down. Even before that the woman had been in a state of agitation from fear. She ran away from this territory the moment she got divorced. It was said that she lost her life from a bandit attack in a mountain while she was heading to Dandall.

In the wedding ceremony, Nora shared a smile with the young man who was her childhood friend. A necklace of Spirit Tear that has been slightly decorated so it cant be seen what kind of gem it actually has is swaying on her chest.

According to the servants who I talked with, it seemed that necklace is a memento of her deceased mother. Apparently the grandmother of her mother was a spirit summoner and she received it from a spirit. In other words, it wasnt an unsavory item that was obtained from killing a spirit like the taboo from the holy church.

I made sure of Noras happiness before quietly turning my back on it.

Because of everything I did in this town, I became troubled of when and how to return to the necklace, but in the end I simply sneaked into her room and left it beside her pillow.

Just in case, I left behind a note that was written with the words Your mother is avenged, but thinking back now, I might have done something unnecessary.

*Clatter*

My gaze fell toward the scorched necklace on my palm that was the other Spirit Tear.

It was something I prepared to trick the contact and I managed to retrieve it during that fight but, the Spirit Tear turned into mere stone as though to declare that its role had ended.

This stone was something dropped by the spirit I defeated. I might gotten burned inside that flame without this water spirit stone. I wonder why that water spirit left behind this magic stone which is supposed to be something very rare.

Perhaps that spirit was seeking death. But the only one who knew the truth was only that water spirit.

Its pointless to keep thinking about it.

I looked back once more for the last time before leaving this place. Nora looked happy. The words that I left behind will become a break point for her but, she shouldnt look behind anymore.

At that time, Nora looked back with the same timing and our gazes accidentally met. Even though the distance between us is really far, Nora seems to remember me and her eyes widened just a little. Then she waved her hand with a wide smile. I also waved my hand a little before turning back and left.

.

I finally turned nine in these several months.

My body also grew a little bit again, but although I was able to crush an assassin guild and thief guild, I still cant be said to be truly strong.

In order to fulfill my promise to some people, my strength is still lacking.

I also still havent paid back Grave who attacked me and might hurt Elena in the future.

Im also still separated from the organization that Sera belonged to. I dont even know whether they are enemy or ally.

The survivors of the assassin guild are also still attacking me sporadically. Because of that I still cant return back to masters place.

Im still not strong enough to move aside everything that is trying to tie me down.

But, I already stopped running away. I also stopped hiding.

If someone want to kill me then come at me anytime. The stronger you guys are the stronger Ill also become.

Ill fight. For the sake of my promises with master and Elena, Ill obtain strength so that not even the nobles ties of obligation can bind me. Ill become someone who is feared even by the people of the underworld.

This might be just a wild delusion of a pretentious kid. But, Ill obtain that.

For that, Ill live not as an assassin but as an adventurer. Because I want true strength, not just strength against human.

*Pakin-!*

I threw the tag with the fake name(Anya) to the air and cut it apart.

Im the adventurer Aria.

Thats why

.

Come out.

When I called out toward the highway that has grown dark, a black silhouette oozed out from the darkness.

Most likely they are assassin from an assassin guild branch somewhere. Because they are covering their whole body, I cant appraise them accurately, even so I can feel the strength of someone around level 4 from the atmosphere theyre radiating.

That assassin unsheathed a black one-handed sword. I also unsheathed my black knife, and the blades clashed at the same time.

.

I wont run away from anything anymore.

In a gloomy back alley of a town, that girl was standing with her long black wavy hair fluttering. Her purple eyes that were surrounded with horrible dark circles like a sick person narrowed gently while looking down on a slightly dirty man.

That man was rolled on the ground after facing a girl who looked like she was still twelve years old. He opened his mouth with a scared expression while glob of cold sweats trickled down from all over his face.

I-its true, I dont know anything more than that, believe me! I only heard about the rumor of the woman called Ash Crowned Princess from a peddler!

The man was a member of the thief guild in the capital. How did that man fall into this kind of situation? That was because the noble daughter before him was looking for information of a certain girl. This man was simply unfortunate for knowing about that spreading rumor.

The truth of that rumor wasnt certain. But it was said that girl who was said to be still in her early teen slaughtered the members of an assassin guild branch on her lonesome, and she also got into hostility against the thief guild on top of that.

After hearing all that, most people would think of it as simply foolish talk from a drunk, but even though it was a happening from far north, this mere rumor among the peddlers and thieves spread until as far as the capital.

It was an absurd story, but together with its fame, it was a fascinating enough topic for the merchants who came from the north to bring up as an idle gossip to draw the interest of their negotiation partner.

There was still nobody who seriously believed in that story, whether it was those one telling the story or those hearing the story. But, that noble daughterCarla Lester was the only one who listened to it seriously before her gaze wandered to empty space in ecstasy.

As I thought youre alive. Aria.

If that girl had decided, then she would surely carry it out no matter what kind of obstruction got in her way. In this world that was filled with agony, Aria was the only one who recognized her existence, and gave her a promise to kill her .

.

Carla saw a dream with her eyes still opened.

What came to her mind was the graduation party of the sorcery academy where she was brought to by her father for only once when she was little.

In that party, only nobles with rank higher than baron and their partner got invited to the palace. They were wearing resplendent outfit, took the hand of the partner in their heart with bashful smile, and then danced brilliantly.

That dreamy brilliant scene was instantly dyed with the color of blood.

The people inside that scene got replacedby Carlas fiance the crown prince, and the sons of the high ranked nobles. They were all lying face down in the pool of their blood. The castle town that was enveloped in flame decorated the dazzling stage. There, Carla and Aria in their gorgeous dresses were trying to kill each other with only each other and nobody else reflected in their eyes.

.



!

The thief got his head grabbed with an eagle grip by Carlas fingertips that were like white fish. Crimson flame surged from the gaps of her fingers and burned the thief. A soundless cream played in the back alley. Carla let out a captivated voice into the darkness, like a girl who dreamed of a prince charming on white horse.

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Come to kill me quicklyAria