Kir and Irene
Flustered by the continuous praise, Lucia sheepishly excused herself and left. Soon after, the maids brought out the main course, allowing us to enjoy a relaxing and sumptuous meal for the first time in a long while.
Knock, knock.
Just then...
The dining room door opened after a brief knock, and a man who appeared to be an administrator approached Edwin to whisper in his ear.
"What?!"
Whatever the news was, Edwin looked utterly dumbfounded, unable to utter a single word for a long moment as if in deep shock.
"What's wrong, Edwin?"
"..."
"Did something terrible happen?"
"She's... dead..."
"Who?"
"The apprentice Saintess. Apparently, she passed away the day before yesterday..."
"What?!"
"No chronic illness. Cause of death unknown. They're writing it off as natural causes and rushing the funeral..."
An apprentice Saintess would be in her early to mid-teens at most. It was far too early for a natural death.
She had no pre-existing conditions, yet they ruled it a natural death before any proper investigation could even take place. Rushing the funeral made it seem as if they had been waiting for this exact moment.
"And... they've temporarily reinstated the former Saintess, Emilia, putting the High Temple under emergency operations..."
"..."
Even though I wasn't in the Empire, the news reeked of a foul conspiracy.
"For them to go this far..."
Edwin trailed off, unable to voice his final thoughts.
But his opening words were more than enough for me to piece it together.
Emilia, who had retired to marry the Crown Prince, had murdered the apprentice Saintess to reclaim her grip on the High Temple.
And next, they would point out the lack of a healer in the hero's party and subtly push for Emilia to rejoin.
That was my conclusion.
And though Edwin remained silent, he was undoubtedly thinking the exact same thing.
"Edwin, if the High Temple brings up healing magic again and tries to slip the Saintess back in, make up a good excuse to reject them."
"Will do."
"Just in case, don't mention a word about Lucia..."
If the High Temple found out that Lucia could use high-level healing magic, there was no telling what kind of schemes they would cook up.
"Don't worry. If the High Temple wants to play dirty, I have my own ways of dealing with them."
Edwin had clearly reached his limit. His long-brewing frustration with the High Temple's constant meddling was finally boiling over.
It had been a while since I'd seen Edwin this furious, and I found myself slightly amused by the sight.
After finishing our meal,
I turned down Edwin's offer to grab a drink. Having traveled all this way from the Erupe Kingdom without a proper rest, I desperately needed to return to my room.
The moment I collapsed onto the bed,
the soft, plush mattress enveloped my body—a stark contrast to the hard ground I had slept on for the past few days.
Drowsiness washed over me like a heavy sedative, pulling me under.
Tap, tap.
Tap, tap?
Just as I was about to drift off,
the sound of someone tapping on the windowpane with a pebble snapped my eyes open.
Though the darkness of the night obscured the details, I could make out a dark silhouette standing just outside the window.
"Kir?"
"It's been a while, hasn't it?"
I opened the window and stepped out onto the terrace. Kir was perched on the railing, waving at me with a playful grin.
"Have you been well...? Wait, what happened to your hand?"
I had intended to greet her as usual, but her awkward attempts to hide her left hand caught my attention, forcing me to ask.
"Oh... this? No, it's nothing."
"Don't lie to me. Are you hurt? Is it bad?"
Realizing she couldn't hide it anymore, Kir sheepishly showed me her left hand, which was wrapped tightly in bandages.
I stepped closer, gently taking her hand to inspect the injury.
"It's just... a minor scratch from a mission."
"A minor scratch? You're flinching. Does it hurt a lot? Hold on, I'll go get Lucia. Her healing magic will fix this in no time."
"No."
She winced every time I lightly brushed against it, meaning it was far worse than she let on.
If only Lucia were here, I would have asked her to heal it immediately.
But as I turned to fetch Lucia, Kir grabbed the hem of my shirt, anchoring me to the spot. I couldn't even make it past the terrace door, let alone the bedroom.
"I don't like that blue-haired girl."
"Why?"
"Hero, it feels like you rely on her more than you do on me."
"What are you talking about? Me, relying on Lucia more?"
"Oh, really? Am I wrong? Last time and even today... it's always 'Lucia, Lucia.' Her name is practically glued to your lips."
Come to think of it...
Maybe she had a point...
Or maybe not.
"And I don't like that silver-haired girl either."
"Irene?"
"Yeah. She acts all stoic and expressionless, but I hate the way she stares intently at you whenever you're talking to someone else."
"Did she?"
I had occasionally felt Irene's gaze on me, but I had always assumed it was just my imagination due to her naturally blank expression.
"But Kir, when did you even notice all of this?"
"Heh... Who do you think I am? I'm Kir, the assassin leader of the Demon King's army. I've been watching you ever since you set foot in the royal capital."
If she had been watching me since I entered the capital, that meant she had been tailing me for quite some time.
Yet, I hadn't sensed her presence even once.
"How is the Demon King's army doing lately? I heard earlier that their advance in the western part of the continent has stalled."
"Actually, that's exactly why I came tonight."
"Hmm?"
Kir's playful demeanor vanished, replaced by a solemn expression as she spoke.
"You'll need to stay on high alert from now on."
"Why?"
"The Necromancer Guild of the Demon Realm has started to move."
"The Necromancer Guild? I thought they weren't participating in this war."
Three years ago, the Necromancer Guild had joined forces with the Demon King's army.
They raised armies of the undead from the fallen to conquer kingdoms one by one. While they weren't much of a threat to me personally,
they were an absolute nightmare for nations relying on conventional armies.
"Yeah. They took heavy losses back then, but you know how those bastards are."
Kir clicked her tongue in disgust. Even she shuddered at the mere mention of the necromancers.
The members of the Necromancer Guild were notorious outcasts even within the Demon Realm, known for their bizarre and twisted personalities.
They indulged in grotesque hobbies, like dressing up reanimated corpses or stitching together body parts to create horrific chimeras.
"There's no telling what those perverted freaks will do once they march north, so be careful. The entire guild is mobilizing this time."
"Understood. I'll inform Edwin tomorrow."
Edwin was going to have a massive headache tomorrow...
Just a moment ago, he was fuming and swearing to put the High Temple in its place.
But now that the Necromancer Guild was joining the fray, the kingdom desperately needed the High Temple's support.
Since the undead were weak against holy magic, the demand for holy water would skyrocket. To secure paladin reinforcements,
Edwin would have to swallow his pride and negotiate from a position of weakness.
"Also... I think Caren is starting to suspect me."
"Caren...?"
"Yeah. My younger sister and the deputy leader of the assassin unit."
I recalled hearing about her back when Kir and I lived together in the cabin.
The story of Kir and Caren...
Raised in the same orphanage in the Demon Realm, they were closer than blood sisters.
They had entered the assassin training program together, sharing every hardship from basic training to actual life-and-death combat.
Perhaps because of that bond, Kir used to talk about Caren every chance she got.
She had always made a habit of saying she wanted to introduce Caren to me if they ever reunited.
"She keeps tailing me for no reason. I had to go through so much trouble just to slip away tonight..."
"Maybe she's just worried about her older sister?"
"Well... maybe. But she's been acting really strange lately. She looks at me suspiciously no matter what I do, and she always tries to tag along whenever I go out..."
"Could she have figured out that you're coming to see me?"
"I don't have proof, but... I think so."
While it was unlikely that Caren, who was like a real sister to her, would report Kir to the Demon King,
Kir still seemed hesitant to reveal our relationship to her.
"So, I should probably lay low for a while..."
"Yeah. It's always better to be safe."
"You won't miss me too much if I can't visit often, right?"
"Nope. Not a chance."
"What?!"
Pouting at my response, Kir playfully pounded her small fists against my chest.
Seeing her react like this gave me a strange sense of satisfaction, making me want to tease her even more.
But...
our playful banter was abruptly cut short.
Freezing
Crack-crack-crack-shatter!
A familiar female voice echoed from the garden below, and a split second later, the magic she unleashed surged up to the second-floor terrace where we stood.
The frost rapidly climbed the walls, threatening to engulf us.
"I-Irene?!"
Irene's magic had completely frozen the ground, the surrounding foliage, and the terrace itself in solid ice.
Her target was clearly Kir, not me. However, Kir had already sensed her presence and leaped out of harm's way.
"How did a member of the Demon King's army get in here...?"
"Irene, wait! Stop! She's not an enemy!"
"An ally? A member of the Demon King's army?"
"Yes. So just listen to me for a second—"
I tried desperately to calm Irene down and stop the fighting, but Kir, who had masked her presence after dodging the initial strike, suddenly materialized behind Irene to launch a counterattack.
Whoosh!
It all happened in the blink of an eye, leaving me no time to intervene.
Fortunately, Irene barely managed to dodge the strike and immediately fell back into a defensive stance.
"Oh? Not bad. You actually dodged that?"
"A dark elf?"
Irene, who had only seen the silhouette of Kir's military uniform in the dark garden,
looked visibly startled as the moonlight illuminated Kir's face.
"A dark elf... from the assassin unit?"
"Oh, you know of us?"
"What is an assassin doing here? Did the Demon King send you to target the Hero?"
Irene drew her sword, keeping her guard up against Kir, who could strike from any direction.
Meanwhile, Kir seemed to find the whole situation highly entertaining, a playful smirk never leaving her face.