Chapter 19
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 19
Chapter Title: Assassins
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It was a quiet night.
Cron Castle was just as it always was.
Outside the castle, guards patrolled tirelessly.
Inside, the pale moonlight bathed everything, granting peaceful slumber to all.
And there they were, slipping in without a sound.
Wearing black masks, they entered the castle with effortless naturalness.
The guards passed right behind them without noticing a thing, continuing their rounds oblivious.
Once inside, as if it were their own home, they rushed toward their target without hesitation.
Without a breath or a footstep, they sped silently toward the lord's bedroom. Nothing stood in their way.
If left alone, they would soon reach the lord's bedroom.
Upon arrival, they would carry out their mission, and the castle's lord would die without even realizing it.
While the moonlight watched in silent worry, they arrived at the lord's bedroom door before anyone knew it.
But for the first time, the charging intruders halted.
Standing before the lord's bedroom door—where they expected no one to be—was her.
Rana waited silently in her prim maid uniform, right in front of the door.
And for the first time in the hushed castle, she spoke.
"Good evening. I am Rana, the maid who serves Lord Calix."
She introduced herself with a polite bow.
The intruders sensed the threat in her greeting.
Even in that impossibly intricate maid outfit, her body made no sound.
With an icy, expressionless stare, Rana gazed calmly at the intruders and said,
"The lord is sleeping. If you wish to see him, please register at the manor office tomorrow morning."
Her words carried no emotion.
No fear, no hostility—just a simple conveyance of information.
And that chilled the intruders to the bone more than anything.
"If you approach the lord any further..."
Rana took a step forward.
At her movement, the intruders recoiled, breathing for the first time since arriving.
Ignoring their reaction, she continued coldly,
"I will regard you as enemies."
Approaching without sound, executing without heart, eliminating the target from the world without a trace.
That was the essence of an assassin.
From their training, they had always heard those words:
Empty your mind of all things.
The intruders had been drilled in that mantra, carrying out every mission silently and emotionlessly until now.
But tonight, for the first time, they made a sound.
Faced with the maid before them, whose emptiness surpassed their own, they felt the emotion of fear—and let out a breath.
Unable to retreat, they drew their daggers and took a step forward.
And then...
"You've approached."
Rana now recognized them as enemies.
In that instant, her long maid skirt fell away.
Revealing a short underskirt and two daggers hidden on her thighs.
She drew them silently, ready to greet her guests.
"As the maid of... no, of Lord Calix, I will eliminate you."
At that moment, her profession shifted from maid to assassin.
The three intruders scattered and charged at her.
No matter how superior she was as an assassin, she was still alone.
A little sacrifice was no issue if it meant completing the mission.
With that resolve, even willing to sacrifice himself, the lead intruder witnessed something unbelievable.
A dagger she had thrown whistled past his head.
"...!"
He wasn't shocked that she had thrown it faster than he could see, or that it grazed his head.
He was certain it had pierced the skull of the comrade behind him.
Invisible and silent, but the man at his back was dead.
Sensing this, the lead intruder pressed on toward her without pause.
A comrade lost, but her weapons were halved.
Seizing this chance or dying themselves, the two remaining intruders lunged.
Whoosh!Whoosh!Whoosh!
The quiet corridor filled with the sound of wind.
Their daggers crossed paths where the others had been, slicing the air.
Allowing not a single hit in their deadly exchange, they danced a silent ballet under the moonlight.
Who was most shocked in that clash?
She—the top graduate of the empire's premier academy's assassin program—was stunned by their skill in matching her.
And the intruders—veterans of countless shadowy missions—marveled at how this woman evaded their strikes without a whisper.
Thus, they knew.
The next move would shatter the balance, killing one side.
And the intruders broke it first.
Stab!
The sound of blade piercing flesh echoed softly down the hall, surprise flashing across Rana's face.
One intruder had thrown himself onto her dagger, stabbing himself.
This was their gambit.
Two of them; one survivor to complete the mission was enough.
Spotting the opening from his comrade's suicidal sacrifice, the remaining intruder charged.
In killing countless souls as an assassin, he had begun to see the lines.
The black lines that guided others surely to death—and now one appeared at her throat.
He swung his dagger toward it.
But in that instant... she vanished before his eyes.
"!!!?"
His confident strike sliced empty air. As the self-stabbed comrade came into view, he felt death creeping up behind him.
Stab!
"Gah!"
The metal burrowed toward his heart, skirting his spine.
Clinging to fading consciousness, he turned.
There stood she, and his comrade—forehead pierced by her dagger, dead.
Feeling faint mana from the dagger in his heart and seeing his comrade's position, he pieced it together.
This was Rana's blessing: Leaping Dagger.
Its effect: Teleport Rana to her dagger's location—a simple instant movement.
Devastatingly absolute in assassinations and close-quarters fights where life and death hinged on 0.1 seconds. With this blessing and her talent, she had topped the academy's assassin track.
As consciousness slipped away, the intruder lamented his folly in engaging without considering such a blessing.
And so he perished.
"May you find happiness... in your next life."
Gazing at the fallen intruders, Rana prayed for their souls.
Having dealt with the intruders, Rana fell into thought.
She had sensed the assassins and stepped out to protect the lord—but she had never told him about her abilities.
Two reasons she kept her assassin skills secret: First, the princess had ordered it. Second, for reasons she couldn't explain, she simply didn't want to tell Lord Calix.
Now, staring at the three corpses, she worried.
If dawn revealed she had handled assassins, things could get messy.
Worst case, she'd be sent back to the princess and lose her teaching role. The thought made her dizzy.
I don't want to leave this place... I need to find a way.
As she pondered solutions, Rana glanced at Calix's bedroom.
Suddenly, the idea of offering an apologetic gift sparked a perfect plan.
Without hesitation, she put it into action.
An apple in the morning is a tonic for the soul.
Thanks to habits from my past life, I woke early, carved an apple alone in my room, and started my day.
That morning too, before the maid arrived, I groggily sliced my apple with a paring knife.
But then...
"Kyaaah!!!"
A scream pierced from outside.
What the hell—a scream first thing in the morning!?
Startled, I burst out the door knife in hand.
"What happened?!"
"L-Lord! Over there..."
"Over there? ...Whoa, you scared me."
Outside stood Julia the maid, trembling in shock, pointing.
And in that direction: three corpses that screamed assassin.
Black clothes, black masks—the killers lay slain in battle, covered in stab wounds and crimson blood.
Alerted by the scream, guards rushed over.
"Lord!!"
"Are you alright?!"
They looked frantic, faces pale with worry for my safety.
I opened my mouth to reassure them, but they shouted first.
"Lord! Blood on your clothes!!"
"Blood? ...Damn it, what the—?!"
Hearing that, I looked down.
My pajamas were soaked in blood, stained bright red.
No way! What the fuck is going on!?
Why was my sleepwear a bloodbath overnight?
As I panicked, the guards stared in awe and said,
"No way... those assassins..."
"Did you take them down, Lord?"
"What!?"
Dead assassins, bloodied pajamas, paring knife.
They pieced it together: I'd killed the assassins with my knife.
...As if!
I denied it desperately.
"No way! I have no idea what happened!"
"Understood."
"We'll handle it officially that way."
The guards and Julia nodded solemnly, faces saying they'd keep my heroic secret for the lord's sake.
No! It wasn't me!
Guys! Seriously, not me!
And a few days later...
Songs spread through the streets of me massacring assassins with a paring knife.
This really wasn't me... I was so wronged I could go mad.