Chapter 121
Chapter 121
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 121
Chapter Title: Good Job, Our Stalker
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Rainport.
A port city located in the western part of the empire, where rain falls for more than half the year.
If Getel provided information and Ashpole supplied manpower, then Rainport served as the base for supplying equipment.
In the story, the cult smuggled materials meant for beastification experiments through this place, diverting them to the Neivil branch.
Destroying this location alone would prevent a significant portion of the future problems before they even arose.
"It's raining."
Luna said, peering out the window.
As she said, the sky grew increasingly covered in dark clouds as the train approached the city.
A few hours later, when the train arrived at Rainport, a downpour was raging.
"Ugh... so damp. The weather here is always depressing, no matter when you come."
"Have you been to Rainport before?"
"Well, I stopped by briefly once on an errand."
Everyone on the streets was huddled under umbrellas or raincoats, heads bowed as they walked.
Because of that, their expressions were hidden, giving the city a gloomy atmosphere.
"Should we find a place to stay first? It's pouring like this, so moving around right away would be tough."
"No. Let's go right now."
"Right now? Through this rain?"
"That's exactly why we're going—in the rain."
The port lights flickered dimly through the raindrops.
"No better weather for sneaking goods around without anyone noticing."
Unlike with Getel, we couldn't just bulldoze our way through this time.
The biggest difference between Rainport and Getel was that the Rainport branch appeared, on the surface, to be a legitimate logistics company.
That's why the logistics warehouse where the branch was located was a mix of cultists hiding their identities and oblivious regular laborers.
Charging in recklessly like at Getel could result in innocent laborers being taken hostage or killed.
That's why, in the original story, the Rainport branch raid began with stealth action.
Aren spots a suspicious man lurking near the port, tails him, and discovers a secret passage inside the logistics warehouse.
However, that suspicious man only appears later when Aren starts seriously raiding the branch.
At this different point in time, we couldn't count on that.
In the end, we'd have to pick some random suspicious guy and infiltrate without even knowing the target.
While we pondered, we had somehow arrived in front of the logistics warehouse.
[Warehouse 4]
This was the warehouse where the branch was in the original story.
But the exact entrance location could only be found by tailing that suspicious man.
"I'm not confident in stealth..."
Adelin whined.
That was understandable. Even in the pouring rain, Adelin's appearance stood out.
No matter how bundled up she was, the moment anyone saw the golden hair and eyes peeking out like sunlight, they'd instantly think, 'Ah! The Empire's Greatest Sword!'
Of course, I wasn't particularly confident either.
Like most action RPGs, End of Eternity Academy had a stealth section that showcased the developers' hipster tendencies.
And these sections usually turned into curse-inducing nightmares for players.
Especially in End of Eternity Academy, where it was notoriously bad.
Enemies had ridiculously wide field of vision, getting spotted led straight to mission failure and respawning at the inn, and worst of all, it took forever.
There was no skip option either, so players called it the "pure displeasure segment."
But reality wasn't much different.
'If anything, it's worse.'
There were no enemy alert gauges above heads or minimaps showing vision cones here.
We had to rely solely on senses, experience, and the walkthrough in my head.
'The Getel branch raid has probably already been reported. Security will be at maximum.'
Even that was optimistic now.
At that moment, Luna quietly raised her hand.
"Um... Lord Haribal."
"Yeah?"
"If it's okay... could I give it a try? I think I could help with infiltration."
'Hmm.'
In the original story, Luna was a ditz in a different way from Alicia.
While Alicia showed her ditziness through misjudgments, bad luck, and disastrous results, original Luna was the physical comedy type.
Tripping over her own feet on flat ground for no reason and letting out a "Kyaa!" scream.
That was the Luna Grace I knew.
This wasn't about personality—it was innate, so a personality change wouldn't affect it.
For such a girl to suddenly volunteer for solo infiltration... should I stop her or let her go?
"Why not give her a shot? She might actually have a knack for it."
"What kind of knack?"
"Assassin... or something?"
Shouldn't a student have a knack for assassination?
"But if she messes up, it's not just Luna in danger—others too."
"Same for us, isn't it? Better one person slips through than all three lumbering around together."
'She's got a point, but...'
Adelin's gaze was oddly knowing about Luna.
'Why do they keep having these side conversations I don't get?'
Suddenly, I—the only one with original story knowledge—felt like the most clueless one in the party.
Luna stared straight at me and added.
"Lord Haribal. Trust me."
Sigh. Fine.
When she puts it like that, what choice do I have?
We didn't have any better options anyway.
At best, charge in and smash everything—which we could do anytime.
"Got it. But send a signal the moment anything feels off. I'll rush in to help."
"Yes. I'll trust you."
Luna smiled brightly and pulled her raincoat hood down low.
Then she stepped into the rain.
If she slips and falls on the wet ground, it's game over... huh?
I rubbed my eyes and looked again.
'Where'd she go?'
Luna had vanished from sight completely.
"Over there."
Adelin tapped my shoulder and pointed to a spot where shadows pooled thickly behind logistics crates.
Luna was there.
She had even changed out of her raincoat into some black garb from who-knows-where.
I'd prided myself on honing my senses through training.
Yet Luna had slipped my senses in an instant and melted into the shadows.
'Crazy, what the hell.'
Give me back the ditz mage Luna I knew.
With stealth like that, I was confident she could sneak into my room at night and I'd never notice—sending a chill down my spine.
"Wow. That's real talent. Blending into shadows that naturally isn't something you can teach."
Come to think of it, she'd been avoiding me all semester.
No matter how hard I searched, I never saw her—it wasn't just bad luck.
If she deliberately dodged like that, no one could find her.
'......Scary girl.'
Luna scanned the surroundings for a while, then soundlessly tailed a laborer sorting cargo from behind.
Maybe because of her small frame. The laborer didn't notice her clinging right to his back.
"Oh... she even picks up on that?"
"Huh?"
"That laborer. Unlike the others, his breathing is really steady, right?"
Now that she mentioned it... wait, what?
Only superhumans like Adelin could hear breathing over the rain from this distance.
I hadn't reached that level yet.
Still, as she said, those infused with demonic energy often had enhanced physical abilities.
They forgot fatigue and became numb to pain, so even hauling loads in the rain kept their breathing steady.
That made this guy the key to leading us to the branch for sure.
The laborer glanced around, then slipped between stacked crates in a corner of the port.
Luna followed, and we followed her.
A moment later.
The laborer stopped in front of what looked like a dead-end warehouse wall.
He pulled a mechanical device emblazoned with the cult's insignia from his pocket and pressed it against the warehouse lock.
'Bingo.'
With a loud rumble, the warehouse door opened, and light leaking from inside made Luna's silhouette flicker slightly.
"Who's there!"
The laborer's demonic-enhanced senses caught that gap.
'Tch.'
I clicked my tongue inwardly.
But this was enough.
Luna had more than done her part by leading us this far.
Now it was our turn...
Thwack!
"?"
But instead of panicking, Luna smacked the laborer's arm away and dove into his embrace in a flash.
Her small palm clamped over his mouth as her hand edge precisely struck his nape.
Thud.
The sudden magic (physical) left the laborer crumpling to the ground without a single scream.
Luna dragged the fallen laborer inside the warehouse.
She did something inside to keep the door from closing fully, then signaled us.
'Crazy, that's a real assassin.'
"Wow... she's seriously good. With skills like that, the imperial intelligence bureau would snatch her up in a heartbeat."
I was dumbfounded.
Personality change was one thing, but a full class change? This was new.
As we quietly approached the warehouse, Luna peeked her head out from inside the door.
Then she beamed and whispered.
"It's safe this way. You can feel presences a bit further in."
"G-Good work."
Excuse me. She's actually terrifying.
Hiding my complicated feelings, I lightly patted Luna's head and stepped inside.
The warehouse interior was much larger than it looked from outside.
Dozens of laborers bustled between crates stacked high to the ceiling.
At least half were cultists in disguise.
While advancing through shadows, I opened a wooden crate my hand brushed against.
It was packed with glass vials filled with red liquid.
[Beastification Accelerator - Diluted]
[An ominous liquid made by refining demonic energy and shards.]
'As expected.'
This was the drug used on students in the Neivil branch experiments in the original story.
They received diluted stock from the main temple here, then purified it further in Neivil's secret lab.
"Stinks of demonic energy."
"It's refined from beast blood. Inject it into a person and..."
"They become beasts."
"Yeah. And..."
I added, holding up a vial.
"No matter that it's in glass vials, regular laborers don't have abyss cores to purify demonic energy. Obviously, those handling the stock get affected too."
The regular laborers here were likely half-corrupted by demonic energy already.
We needed to purify them ASAP.
"Beasts would be better off. At least they don't crawl out of dungeons."
"So we have to handle this cleanly."
I resealed the lid and signaled Luna again.
She nodded and ghosted ahead once more.
Her movements were flawless.
She scouted blind spots around corners and slipped past patrolling guards in split-second gaps beyond their gaze.
'Did Viktor teach her?'
The Grace family was a magic powerhouse, but they also handled the empire's shadows.
It wouldn't be surprising if some secret Grace stealth technique popped up.
'Tch.'
Focus later.
Soon, Luna halted and spread her palm.
Three ahead.
Guarding a narrow passage.
No matter how good the stealth, we couldn't just stroll past.
Adelin placed her hand on her sword hilt and gave me a look.
'Break through?'
I shook my head.
Not yet. A commotion here could endanger the laborers.
But before I could give orders, Luna moved first.
She raised her staff hand, and three purple flames bloomed in the air.
'Self-ignition?'
Attacking? It'll make noise.
But the flames burrowed into the guards' feet instead of flying.
And then.
Whoosh.
"......?!"
"......!"
With silent screams, the three guards clutched their throats and dropped to their knees.
The purple flames wrapped their airways, blocking them off.
The moment Luna clenched her fist.
Crack.
The guards crumbled into black ash.
Only clothes and weapons remained—their bodies vanished in about three seconds.
It was a chillingly clean assassination.
"......Wow."
Adelin was genuinely impressed.
"What's her deal? Her killing skills seem better than mine."
I was about to ask the same—don't ask me.
"......I've been wondering that myself."
She'd incinerated three people in a blink and was still calmly beckoning us with a serene face.
One thing was clear.
She was far more dangerous than I'd thought.
And fortunately, her flames were aimed at enemies, not me.
'Good job, our stalker.'
After Luna repeated similar feats a few times.
Soon, no more suspicious steady-breathers were left in the warehouse.
Adelin and I cross-checked: the remaining laborers were pure civilians unrelated to the cult.
No hostage worries now.
We soon reached the deepest part of the warehouse, in front of the manager's office leaking light.
A deep voice came from inside.
"Pay extra attention to this shipment. Neivil's been hounding us."
"Don't worry. Not even a rat'll get near."
'Rats, huh.'
I glanced between Adelin and Luna.
The Empire's Greatest Sword and a human-weapon assassin.
And me.
Wait, don't I seem kinda pathetic?
Anyway, pretty vicious rats.
I drew my sword and hugged the wall by the door.
Stealth action's golden rule: once you reach the objective undetected, slaughter away—it's still assassination.
No witnesses.