A Truly Killer Plan (2)

I rewound time to the moment I'd just stepped out of the shop.

"Held skill list."

I activated my Unique Trait in a suitably empty alley.

The skills I'd stockpiled during the entrance exam sat stored inside a blue window.

What I needed right now was—

"Select. Kaiden."

Kaiden's skills.

I got lucky.

Never in a million years had I expected to take the exam on the same day as that guy.

Kaiden the assassin.

He was a member of the Imperial Shadow Knights, Wolyoung, who'd infiltrated the Academy.

Then again, maybe it was because Kaiden was a knight too?

Every time I got under his skin, he lent me a skill. I couldn't have been happier.

"…You. I'll remember that face."

"THAANK YOOOOOOU!!"

"I really, truly, definitely remembered it, you son of a bitch!!!"

Thanks ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to that, I'd earned the hatred of a guy who'd one day be called a genius of assassination. But it was more than worth it.

The instant the skill took hold—

Shff.

A minuscule thread of aura took shape. Compressed to its absolute limit and honed razor-sharp, it sliced the shadows on the ground paper-thin, then draped itself over me like a robe.

"I say, young man!! No matter how I think about it…"

"…Gone already, is he."

I was standing right in front of him, and he couldn't notice me at all. Perfect concealment.

Alright then…

Time to go save a villainess.

The shantytown in the backstreets.

Shantytown in name only—there were barely even any houses made of actual planks. A wretched neighborhood. Living people lay scattered across the streets like corpses, and every manner of stench hung over the whole district.

And into a place like that, a girl appeared.

Yuria, huh. I guess in the East it's natural to drop the family name and just go by the given one?

They say even the mire can bloom a flower—and the girl looked exactly like that.

"…Ahh."

"Yu…ria."

"So beautiful…"

A faint light began to kindle in the beggars' dull, lifeless eyes.

The shadow tensed.

…

If that light turned out to be filthy desire, I swore I'd drop the stealth then and there.

"Oh, come on, misters! I told you to wait inside the tent!!"

"H-how are we supposed to rest when our Yuria's out there working so hard…"

"You guys suffered plenty when I was little! This is payback, okay? Payback!"

"B-but…"

"No buts!"

Yuria scolded them.

"Anyway! You haven't eaten anything today, have you?"

Before the beggars could even answer, Yuria pulled a barley loaf the size of a baguette from her old, tiny bag.

"Ta-da!"

Bread that cost less than five coppers apiece—baked days ago, never sold, and already going stale. To people who could barely even get thin soup down, it was the most precious food in the world.

"B-bread!"

"Where on earth did you…?"

"Ahh…!"

"W-wait…"

The beggar who'd reached toward Yuria grabbed the other two's hands and pulled them down.

"Y-Yuria, you should eat first."

For the first time, a grown, adult smile surfaced on the dying beggar's face. The other two nodded.

"Ian… would like that."

"Yuria. Our bellies are still full, so hurry on to Ian. You'll be hungry too—eat with him."

Just as they were quietly trying to withdraw—

"Huh? Look at you guys. Misters. Do you even know what kind of place Zion is, the school I got into?"

Yuria walked over wearing a wicked little smile.

"That place, see, they lay out bread and cake just for the examinees. And that's not all. They said sorry for postponing the entrance exam and handed out ten whole silver each, you know?"

The beggars' faces brightened.

"Z-Zion, of course!"

"So you ate plenty, then!"

"Thank goodness… Thank goodness our Yuria isn't going hungry…"

Yuria snorted a laugh at them.

"So this is your share."

Riiip.

Yuria split one of the two loaves in half and held it out to them.

"…"

"…"

"…"

When they still hesitated, she divided it into three pieces herself and gently tucked each one into their mouths.

"…S-sorry. Every time."

"Hah! What a relief! I was wondering how I was gonna climb up there with all this, but you guys just lightened my load!"

She cut off their thanks and turned away.

"Okay, I'm really going now! It's still chilly, so get inside! And drink some water with that so you don't choke!"

She must have wanted them not to feel sorry toward her.

And so Yuria climbed the hill.

"Big sis Yuria!"

"Hey, hey, I told you running is dangerous!! Where's your mother, you little tomboy!"

"Ugh. Sorry about this, every time."

"Ah! There you are! Oh, right—this is bread, but…"

"Oh, why do you keep bringing things like this…"

The remaining bread dwindled with every step, but Yuria just kept grinning the whole way.

By the time she reached the shack at the very top, only a single loaf was left.

"Phew!"

She was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠about to go in after catching her breath when—

Growl…

Yuria's stomach rumbled. A huge sound, hard to believe it had come from such a slender body.

"Ugh! Why is it doing that!"

"…Thank god. Nobody's around."

She didn't know.

"…"

That shadows have ears, too.

"Okay! Let's do this!"

Pat, pat-pat.

Yuria gave her belly a couple of pats, drank a ton of water so it wouldn't make any noise, and went inside.

"Grandpa! I'm home!"

"…There's my pretty Yuria."

"Hey! Don't get up!"

She helped the old man who was trying to stand sit back down, then fed wood into the dying campfire. Once she'd brought the fire back to life, she set an old pot on it and warmed up the bland soup.

"Hungry?"

"…Grandpa's fine."

"Liar. The soup's still sitting there untouched."

She ladled out the soup boiled from vegetable scraps, then approached the old man with a sly grin.

"Eheheh. Listen here, O King of the Underworld. Can you even guess what I brought?"

"Hmm…?"

"Ta-dah!"

The last remaining loaf of bread.

"Grandpa's fine. You eat it."

"Ha! I already ate till I was bursting, okay? I was handing it out all the way up from the bottom and I still have this much left. And yours is the biggest one, too."

Yuria beamed.

"So hurry up and eat, then take your medicine."

"…Thank you."

The old man chuckled along with her.

While he ate, Yuria rattled off everything that had happened.

"I guess I really am famous? Everyone crowds around me asking me to lead them… I passed the exam, obviously, and they said ranks get remeasured in a week. Oh! I made a friend, too? He's super annoying, but he's also super funny. And he just… makes people feel at ease, I guess? His name's Eugene! He's my best friend! Got it!"

"…I see."

An excited Yuria, and an old man gazing at her with nothing but fondness. Their lives weren't abundant, but they didn't look wanting, either. A warm little scene.

Which is why I—

—envied Yuria.

And at the same time, I was angry.

Just what the hell happened to her.

For a good kid like that to become a legendary villainess and shoulder every kind of misery.

The moment I found myself furious without realizing ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it—

"…Yuria. I'm sorry to spring this on you, but would you run an errand for Grandpa?"

My eyes met the old man's.

I thought I was imagining it, but then Yuria sighed and grumbled.

"Now? The sun's going down out there!"

"I'm sorry. Stop by the Secret Royal Inspector Store and pick up the clothes Grandpa left there, would you?"

"Tch… I'll let it slide 'cause you're sick. Don't clean up—leave it. And make sure you take your medicine!"

"…Alright. Thank you."

And so Yuria left the shack, and just as I was about to follow her—

"Thanks for waiting."

The warmed air went ice-cold.

I understood immediately. If I moved carelessly now, I might lose a body part.

The old man looked straight at me and, with a gentle gesture, offered me a seat.

"Let's have a little talk, you and I."

Ian Freeman.

The man who had unified an underworld that was hell itself, and reigned as its king.

I'd been suspicious from the moment I first saw the old man, but now I could finally accept it.

"Or die."

The aura he was putting out told me, in no uncertain terms, that if I didn't explain myself right now, I was dead.

I had no choice but to open my mouth.

"…You've got good instincts."

"Getting old makes you unnecessarily sharp, I'm afraid."

Whether that registered as Admiration or not, a system window floated up before my eyes.

I dismissed it with a thought, took off my mask, and approached the old man.

"Eugene."

"Ian."

He studied me, then seemed to give up on figuring it out and asked his question outright.

"Doesn't seem like you came here to kill me… So what brings you all this way?"

So I decided not to hide it either.

"I came to save Yuria."

"Yuria…?"

The old man's eyes went wide.

"Is there a reason?"

"She's my friend."

Ian's expression eased in an instant.

"Hah… Giving me a reason I haven't heard since I was young. I like that."

He muttered it quietly, then straightened his bending back even more rigidly.

"The body decays with age, but the eye for people only grows sharper. That's how I know every word you've said is the truth. However."

The kindly look in his eyes turned razor-sharp in a heartbeat.

"You are far too weak."

Ian's assessment was accurate.

Eugene was an F-rank extra. The borrowed skill was A- rank, but Kaiden himself was only C+. According to the original setting, the Mad Dog was A+, and his subordinates ranged from C+ to A- at minimum—so as I was now, taking them on alone would be too much.

"So, Eugene."

Ian grabbed my hand.

"Please. Take Yuria and run."

His expression was desperate.

"Yuria is a gifted child. So until she can enter one of the Five-Color Magic Towers. No—at the very least, until she graduates from Zion, persuade her to leave this place."

Ian would know.

That he was going to die anyway.

That's why he'd want Yuria to leave him and live happily.

But Ian didn't know.

That Yuria could never be happy.

That she would try to save Ian no matter what, and fall into an even deeper quagmire because of it.

So running away is pointless.

The only way to save her was to smash the root cause of her misery.

"I say, lad. Are you listening to me?"

"Yes, I'm listening."

"…Good. I'm sorry to ask this of someone I just met, but that's the only way Yuria, at least, can be happy. I won't forget this debt, even in death."

"No. I don't want that."

I refused him flat.

"Yuria's happiness is you, old man. So I'm going to save everyone."

"Listen here, Eugene!! Face reality, please!!"

Ian exploded.

"Even ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠me in my prime, even my comrades, couldn't stop those godforsaken bastards!! And you, weaker than I am now—what do you think you're going to do!!"

"I have a secret plan."

"Ha! Let's hear it, then!"

What was he even talking about. I enunciated it for him all over again, nice and slow.

"A. Se. Cret. Plan. I told you."

"That's why I'm telling you to spit it out already!"

"If I tell you, old man, would that still be a secret? That'd just be a not-secret plan."

"What kind of lunatic—!!"

Ian shouted again, looking like he was about to burst a blood vessel.

"Look, I don't care what kind of plan you've got—you're too weak, so it won't work!!"

I quietly nodded.

"Fair point."

"W-what?!"

But, old man.

I really do have a truly killer plan, you know?