Atel was an assassin.
While making the stew, she had added a sleeping drug to make certain Ex and Circe would not wake again.
“Out cold. Perfect.”
Atel and the two other assassins looked down at Ex and Circe. It was clear that even a commotion would not wake them.
Of the two assassins, the tall one, whose voice sounded as though it were scraping his throat, asked Atel a question.
“Number Four. Have you taken the antidote?”
“I already took it. That's why I'm awake.”
“What drug did you use?”
“Alraune pollen. It isn't something you can get your hands on easily.”
“Then they won't wake up all day, no matter what we do to them.”
The tall assassin looked at the sleeping Circe and gave her a grotesque smile, so pronounced that it was visible even through his mask.
At the sight, Atel frowned in disgust.
“Keep your filthy little hobby to yourself, Number Five. None of that vile shit.”
“Our objective is to assassinate the Imperial Prince, isn't it? What happens to this girl doesn't matter. Am I wrong?”
“…If you're going to do it, wait until the job is finished.”
“Of course. I'm not so unreasonable that I don't know that much.”
The tall assassin, Number Five, turned toward the shorter assassin. That assassin was crouching down and studying Ex's face intently.
“What are you doing, Number Seven?”
“I thought looking at him like this might let me see some of an Imperial Prince's dignity. But he hasn't got a damn bit of it. I don't even feel any pity for him.”
“Dignity? He hasn't a drop of imperial blood. He's just a lowborn wretch who was lucky enough to catch Emperor Drakan's eye. How could he have the dignity of an Imperial Prince? At most, he's a filthy, lowborn former slave….”
“Number Five. Focus on the mission.”
Atel cut Number Five off with a warning in her voice.
She tried to conceal it, but it was obvious that his words had offended her.
Noticing that, Number Five gave Atel a peculiar smile.
“Oh, dear…. I'd forgotten you used to be a slave. Don't worry, Number Four. As long as we're serving the Duke, we're all the same.”
“…Let's keep the talk to a minimum.”
“Heh heh. Right. Let's get to work. Before that, I'll ask you one more thing. It's nothing serious, so just relax and answer.”
Number Five took out a sharp dagger and checked its edge as he asked.
“Why did you ask him that question?”
“What question?”
“Whether he really means to become Emperor, and all that.”
Atel answered with silence.
At that, Number Five let out a small, derisive laugh.
“We've got our one and only chance to assassinate the Imperial Prince. When this is over, our master will reward us handsomely. We'll give up this assassin business and live the good life.”
“…And?”
“I don't appreciate anything that puts this opportunity at risk, even a little. I want to hear what you were thinking when you asked that. Who knows? You might get some other idea into your head at the last moment.”
“Have you forgotten that those two took the sleeping drug? I've done everything I could for the mission, while the two of you were watching. If you want to conduct some pathetic test of my loyalties, carry out the mission first.”
Even with the situation having reached this point, Ex and Circe still did not wake. There was no way to explain that unless they had taken the drug.
Number Five answered her with complete composure.
“I'm simply checking before we finish the mission. Suppose we kill the Imperial Prince here. That won't do us any good if we can't escape afterward, will it? So give me a proper answer.”
“Again, why?”
“Because you're a lowborn slave bitch, that's why. The Empire may have abolished slavery, but that doesn't change what you are.”
When Number Five finished speaking, Number Seven, behind her, silently drew a dagger as well.
Though Number Seven's gaze was turned elsewhere, the murderous intent was directed at Atel.
Atel had been through situations like this many times before.
But she had never imagined they would do it at a moment like this.
With no choice left, she let out a heavy sigh and answered.
“I only wanted to know whether he was someone who deserved to die. We're not just grabbing some beggar off the street and knocking him around. He's an Imperial Prince. If that affected the operation, I'm sorry. But it hasn't, has it?”
“Hmm. Well, that's true. And were you satisfied?”
“…Yes.”
There was a brief silence, but Number Five paid it no mind.
That should be enough of a lesson.
Slaves needed to be trampled on from time to time.
Otherwise, they started getting above themselves.
Especially at a moment when they were about to complete an important mission like this, it was necessary to make certain they understood their proper place and the order of rank.
Fortunately, judging by Number Four's expression, she seemed to have been reminded of her position.
For someone who had been a slave, she was skilled, and that made her useful. Thanks to her, he had won their master's favor as well, hadn't he?
Once this was over, perhaps he could give up the assassin's life and obtain a post for himself.
The conversation was over. It was time to finish the job.
“Let's complete the mission. Number Four, keep watch. Number Seven, keep a close eye on that girl. I'll be playing with her later. She's a mage, too. It'd be a shame to kill her carelessly.”
“She'll be difficult to control. Do you have a way to manage her?”
“Make her take poison, then threaten to withhold the antidote if she doesn't obey. She's just a kid. If she doesn't want to die, she'll do as she's told.”
Number Five approached the head of Ex's sleeping bag.
A worm without a drop of noble blood had gotten lucky and become both a hero and an Imperial Prince.
People said that harming the hero brought divine punishment, but he didn't believe in such superstitions.
Without the slightest hesitation or guilt, Number Five brought his aura-infused dagger down toward Ex's neck.
With a light metallic ring, the dagger struck the ground instead, achieving nothing.
It was as though Ex had never been there in the first place.
At that strange, entirely unexpected sensation, Number Five, an experienced assassin, immediately turned his head to issue a warning.
“From this moment on, if I hear so much as a breath from any of you, I will turn you into a pincushion. If you want to die, give me your last words. I'll make sure you get your wish.”
But a voice from the darkness reached them before he could do so.
The campfire crackled, casting light along its outer edge.
Right at the precarious boundary between light and darkness, arrowheads gleamed.
Dozens of them were aimed directly at the assassins.
There was no need to wonder who owned that voice.
It belonged to someone they knew very well.
“He should have taken the sleeping drug…!”
The owner of the voice stepped forward, letting the campfire light reveal his face. It was Ex, the assassins' target.
Things had gone wrong.
With that realization, Number Five thought quickly, pointed at Circe, and shouted.
“Don't move! If you move, I'll kill that mage! You don't want to watch that bitch die, do y….”
“Who are you pointing at? There's nothing there but a sleeping bag.”
He was right.
They had thought Number Seven was keeping watch over Circe in her sleeping bag. Without their noticing, that bag had become empty.
Circe was somewhere else entirely.
“For people trying to assassinate an Imperial Prince, you're a pretty pathetic bunch.”
With a crackle of blue lightning forming in her hand, Circe appeared beside Ex. The lightning was ready to be fired at any moment.
Unable to understand how this situation had come about, the assassins were left utterly stunned.
They should have been in control of the situation. They were supposed to be the ones with the luxury of taking their time.
But the most relaxed person among them was Ex.
“By the way, if you're thinking of killing yourselves, go right ahead. You know, that thing you're all so good at. Taking the suicide poison hidden in a molar and dropping dead with a little gurgle. I have no intention of torturing you or trying to win you over to get information.”
“…What are you after?”
Number Five tensely surveyed the situation.
Each of the assassins carried a scroll for blowing themselves up.
It was a means of continuing the mission and taking their own lives if circumstances left them with no other choice.
He wasn't going to die like a dog. He would survive, no matter what.
His life was too valuable to him to let it end like this.
Number Five moved his fingers, sending a signal to Number Four.
Take responsibility for this disaster and blow yourself up.
Understanding the signal, Atel's eyes trembled ever so slightly.
She didn't want to die, either, but she had no choice.
Atel blinked, signaling her acceptance.
A small, twisted smile appeared on Number Five's face. He opened his mouth to draw their attention.
“Your Highness, I don't know what you're thinking, but let's talk instead of doing this. We're simply hired mercenaries. If you pay more than our employer does, we'd be more than happy to….”
“When did I give you permission to open your mouth?”
Ex flicked a finger.
An arrow immediately hissed through the air.
It drove into the cartilage of Number Five's knee and lodged there.
With red blood and fragments of white bone flying, Number Five crumpled to the ground.
“Aaaaaagh! Fuck, my knee…! My fucking knee…! I told you! All you have to do is hire us…!”
“Why do you keep opening your mouth? Are you insane?”
Another arrow flew, this time burying itself in his other knee.
Once again, a pitiful scream, breaking into sobs with pain, rang out.
Ex looked coldly down at Number Five as he lay writhing on the ground, and spoke without concern.
“You seem to have gotten the wrong idea, so let me make this perfectly clear. The only reason I haven't killed you already is that I'm bored.”
“Information! I can give you information…! Just spare my life…!”
“I told you. I don't need it. And there you go, opening your mouth again.”
“Wait, please…!”
Ex extended two fingers and pointed at Number Five.
This time, two arrows pierced his elbows, one on either side.
Now unable to control his arms as well, Number Five cried out miserably.
“Aaagh…! Please, spare my life….”
At the brutality before them, Atel and Number Seven swallowed hard, their nerves stretched taut.
That did not mean Atel had forgotten the mission.
While Ex and Circe were looking at Number Five, Atel prepared to leap.
If she could get close to them in a single bound and tear the self-destruction scroll, she could complete the mission somehow.
Facing death, she thought of the family she had left back home. But even if she failed the mission, the only future waiting for her would be despair.
'I'm sorry, Artel. Your big sister can't come home.'
Just as she found an opening in their attention and was about to leap, Ex spoke.
“Atel, wouldn't it be awful for Artel if you died here? Do you think your master, Duke Valliere, would take good care of her?”
At Ex's casually delivered words, Atel's feet froze in place. A name that should never have come out of his mouth had just done so.
“Why are you so surprised? Is it that shocking that I know the name of your little sister, when you've never told me about her?”
Ex continued speaking.
“I told you. I don't need the information you have. I already know it.”
“What does that….”
“I know that you came to assassinate me on the orders of Duke Valliere, of the imperial faction. I also know which nobles joined Duke Valliere in plotting the assassination.”
The assassins were so appalled by those words that their eyes almost bulged out of their heads.
Still perfectly at ease, Ex looked at Atel and spoke.
“I know you'll tear your self-destruction scroll and blow yourself up if things go wrong, too. If you're going to do it, now would be a good time, Atel.”
At those words, all three immediately fell silent: Number Five, who had been screaming so disgracefully; Number Seven, who had been watching how the situation developed; and Atel, who was still reeling from hearing her little sister's name on Ex's lips.
As though making a point of it, Ex slowly approached Atel.
He came close enough to be caught in the explosion if Atel tore the self-destruction scroll, but he paid that no mind.
He merely stood in front of her and spoke as though stating something perfectly obvious.
“Blow yourself up, or kill yourself some other way. Do whatever you like. Whatever you do, this won't change. You die here, and I leave this place.”
Losing interest in Atel, Ex turned his glare on Number Seven.
“Your master and every noble involved in the plot will be purged. Your families and acquaintances will end up at the execution grounds as well. We can't just let traitors live, can we?”
“What do you want?”
Number Seven spoke in response to Ex's glib words.
“You're keeping us alive because there's something you want.”
“It seems your loyalty to your master isn't quite as deep as I'd expected.”
“I don't understand difficult things like honor.”
Even among these assassins, Number Seven sounded remarkably unruffled.
“You're a flexible sort. I like that. What's your name?”
“…Number Seven.”
“I asked for your real name. Don't you have one?”
“Pertad.”
“All right, Pertad. Atel. And you on the ground…. Never mind. I don't need to know every name. Number Five is enough.”
“How do you know that…? We never said it.”
“I told you. I already know.”
Ex ruthlessly stamped down on Number Five's head.
“Ghh…!”
It was a humiliating act, but Number Five did not scream.
He knew that screaming would achieve nothing.
The assassins clearly understood their position now.
There was no way out. This was not the moment.
They had neither the standing to bargain nor any means of doing so.
The new Imperial Prince standing before them held the power of life and death not only over them, but over their families and their master as well. Yet they could think of no way to kill the Imperial Prince right now.
For the moment, they would keep quiet and wait for an opportunity.
That might have been their course, if Ex's next words had not followed.
“I will make certain anyone who can be useful to me survives. Naturally, that means leaving this dungeon with me. Outside, too, I'll use the full resources of the imperial palace to protect you. I'll make your involvement in the assassination disappear as though it never happened. If you want, I can even help you obtain a post at the imperial palace.”
It was an extraordinary offer.
Whether the words were true or false, the offer was dangerously enticing. Naturally, they couldn't easily believe it.
Unless there was some special condition, it was an offer that made no sense at all.
“The condition is simple.”
As expected, there was a condition.
“Only one of the three of you survives.”
Ex gave them a faint, crooked smile.
“The other two die here.”
–TL Notes–
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