Chapter 38
Chapter 38
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 38
Chapter Title: First Mission
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“What is my first mission?”
Hearing Canibella’s emotionless voice, Shunkarin was satisfied that her training had gone well. It seemed the instructors there had put extra effort into training her, knowing she was a promising talent under the executives’ attention.
“A mission right away? Are you up for it?”
“I am.”
She wanted to become a full-fledged S-rank operative as soon as possible, no matter what. She had no need for a superficial executive position. To do that, she needed to rack up as many achievements as she could.
‘I need achievements to escape this place.’
Aremai’s spirit hadn’t changed her. She thought like an assassin now, but she didn’t believe Aremai was right.
Still, there was no need to show it and arouse their suspicions.
“Shunkarin?”
That was why she needed to act even more influenced by Aremai. Sensing her eagerness to carry out the mission quickly, Shunkarin pulled a thin document from his side pocket and handed it to her. It was an assassination request.
“Is this the target I need to kill?”
“Yes.”
She read the document carefully, memorizing the target’s information. Then she boldly set it ablaze. Seeing her decisive action, they thought she’d make an excellent assassin.
“I will complete the mission without fail.”
“We’re expecting great things.”
She immediately gathered the standard supplies for operatives: assassin’s attire, potent poison and antidote, a dagger, a map, simple rations, and packed them into a small bag that she slung over her shoulder. Then she mounted her horse and rode off.
‘If I complete the mission in the shortest time possible, I’ll definitely find a way out of this organization.’
She galloped along the fastest route to the Remius Kingdom. Crossing through the forest, she suddenly recalled the days she’d spent fleeing in the past. Back then, she’d been consumed by anxiety, nothing but anxiety. The future had seemed so hopeless, wondering how long she’d have to live for revenge.
And it was the same now. She was anxious her true identity would be exposed, anxious she’d never escape this organization, anxious she’d never live with her child. To hide it all, to break free, she rode on desperately.
A flurry of distracting thoughts raced through her mind. But the horse diligently carried her toward her destination.
‘Found you, Count Ellaus.’
He was a count in the Remius Kingdom who brutally oppressed the people of his territory. He took 70% of the harvest as taxes, turned peasants into slaves through all sorts of means, or made them his concubines.
He was the epitome of evil. Seeing him almost made her delusionally think Aremai’s actions were just.
‘It has to be disguised as a death from a grudge, right?’
She donned her hood and spent the whole day wandering the surroundings, observing. Soldiers were beating a family with clubs for failing to pay taxes. On one side, drunken knights were causing a ruckus.
It was a spectacle.
Despair filled the people’s faces, but hatred gleamed in their eyes. She felt an irony in how much easier the mission seemed than expected.
She had to kill someone, yet she was relieved it would be easier than thought. A bitter laugh rose within her. A mocking laugh echoed in her head.
‘First things first, I need to get this done.’
She shook her head. Her mind cleared. She thought about how to proceed. Circling the count’s residence, she considered various strategies.
Which direction to approach from? Where was the count’s room? If she needed a disguise, who should she impersonate...?
Lost in thought as she walked, night fell. She slipped quietly out of the inn and leaped onto the rooftops. It was a pitch-black night with no moon and clouds covering the sky, so no one spotted her.
‘Good.’
She reached the back door of the mansion smoothly. She entered through a dog hole she’d scouted earlier and tossed a rope over the railing.
Creak. The window to the count’s room opened. It was as natural as water flowing.
“Ha...”
The knight’s posture that Lukamin had spent a full three years perfecting had crumbled in just one year. She had become, undeniably, an assassin. She found her current self ridiculous.
She also despised this version of herself. If she’d had the time, she would have mocked herself.
But entertaining stray thoughts in this situation was a straight path to death. She hadn’t entered yet—if caught, she’d die on the spot. She turned her head, banishing the nagging distractions.
‘Get it together. No dawdling here.’
She glanced down once more to check if anyone was coming. Fortunately, no one was there. Relieved, she slipped inside. There she saw the bed where the count and his wife lay sleeping.
She approached them and quietly drew her dagger. The blade hissed sharply as it emerged. It felt good in her hand. She raised it high. A flicker of hesitation made her pause for a moment.
No matter how harshly trained she was, turning her into a machine for killing, in the end, she was still human.
‘Damn it...’
That was why she was afraid. This wasn’t sparring or defending herself. This was slicing into someone’s flesh with this eerie object. Even if they were scum, she was scared.
“I have to do it.”
She muttered as if brainwashed. Then she gripped the dagger so tightly her hand hurt and plunged it into the count.
Stab!
The blade made a gruesome sound as it pierced the count’s heart. Blood splattered onto her mask and soaked the bedsheets. The wet sensation woke the countess. She tried to scream, but Canibella’s palm muffled it.
“Mmph!”
“Be quiet.”
With her other hand, she sliced into the countess’s heart. The trembling woman collapsed to the floor beneath the bed. Blood flowed like a river.
“......”
The carnage wrought by a single small dagger was laid bare before her eyes. The couple’s blood stained the sheets and pooled on the floor. It drenched her clothes too.
It was an utterly unnatural scene. The thick smell of blood filling the room brought back memories of the incident that took her mother.
“Ugh.”
Her hand trembled on the dagger. The horrific sight made her hesitate. She screamed inwardly over and over.
‘Move! Move!’
Her desperate cry finally shook her rigid body. She had to escape before people came. She fled the way she’d come, swift as she’d arrived. Then she set fire to the pre-scouted spot.
The roaring flames devoured the mansion in no time. Blazes erupted everywhere, too fierce for anyone to easily extinguish. She bit her lip hard. But lingering here risked capture.
She raced straight to her hideout, grabbed her gear, and vanished. Using the cover of darkness, she rode through the night.
How far had she gone? When she spotted the distant blaze still raging, she halted. Dismounting weakly, she vomited everything inside her.
“Blech!”
But with nothing in her stomach, only bile rose. She stared at the scene for a long while, then staggered to collapse beneath a nearby tree.
Her vision blurred as if tears would fall. Lukamin had told her never to kill carelessly, even if she was a knight. No matter how evil the person, she shouldn’t swing her sword based on her own judgment.
He’d said he hoped she’d never stain her hands with blood if possible.
“I’m sorry.”
Even as a knight, Lukamin hadn’t liked killing. That was why he’d emphasized wielding the sword only in unavoidable situations or to protect others. Back then, she’d thought casually that she’d never have to kill anyway.
But she had stained her hands with blood. The sensation of her entire hand smeared in filth made her shudder.
“I... couldn’t protect it.”
Tears began to flow from her eyes. In self-loathing, sorrow, and regret, she burst into sobs.
* * *
“Who the hell killed my father and mother and set fire to this mansion?”
Count Ellaus’s heir was flying into a rage. He’d been away on a short trip, and in that time, his parents were murdered and the house burned to the ground. He screamed at those who’d barely escaped the mansion.
“Th-that is...”
“Find them and drag them before me right now!”
The survivors, seeing his furious outburst, began investigating to identify the culprits.
But with no clue who it was, they had no desire to drag out the hassle. They barely had time to rebuild the mansion as it was.
“This incident—wasn’t it the territory folks?”
“I heard that too. They’ve been grumbling a lot lately.”
“What the hell did the count do to make them go that far?”
“Ungrateful wretches.”
Meanwhile, Aremai operatives who’d long infiltrated the Remius Kingdom started spreading fabricated rumors. The tales were plausible enough to reach the count’s heir intact.
“What? Those worm-like peasants killed my father and mother and burned my house?”
Ranting in fury, he made a grave mistake.
“Round them all up right now and execute them. How dare they defy me!”
And hell began. Flames and smoke rose from all sides, screams echoed. The sounds of clubs striking people, blades cutting flesh, and wails filled the territory all day. Despair choked the streets.
Unable to endure the lord’s family crossing the line with their oppression and murders any longer, the territory folk grabbed their farming tools and shouted.
“We can’t take this anymore!”
“That’s right! We’re not slaves!”
“Down with those damned nobles!”
“Kill them!”
In an instant, the massive crowd, swept up by a few speeches, surged toward the already gutted mansion. Madness gleamed in their rage-filled eyes.
“Charge!”
“Open the gates!”
“What are they doing?”
“Block the gates—don’t let them open!”
A fierce struggle unfolded between the desperate territory folk trying to force the gates and the soldiers blocking them.
“Drag him out!”
“Kill that bastard!”
They caught the count’s heir, who’d fled in terror from the uprising. They spat on him, cursed him, pelted him with stones. They beat the count’s heir to death.
Thus, the rebellion that started in one territory began to engulf the entire kingdom.