Chapter 194: The Assassin
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 194: The Assassin
“...”
The moment the word “payment” left my lips, Elisabeth froze solid.
The atmosphere did a complete one-eighty.
So much so that you’d never believe this was the same woman who’d been fondling a strange man’s dick just moments ago.
“Surely you haven’t forgotten already? The kiss, I mean.”
“I-I know!”
So even if she has a shitty personality and is a pervert, a woman is still a woman, huh?
I never thought she’d get this flustered over a simple kiss.
Her claim that it would be her first didn’t seem to be a lie, as her eyes, fixed on me, trembled more than ever before.
“...Do you need gold coins, perhaps?”
“I have plenty of money.”
“Th-Then what about a title...?”
“What would a mage need with something like that?”
To be honest, it was a little tempting.
Receiving a territory and running it like a management simulation didn't sound too bad.
But once this was all over, I’d be returning to Peledeia to become royalty anyway, so what was the point?
“...Ah! Then how about a blind date with a count’s daughter? She’s not as pretty as me, of course, but she’s so beautiful that everyone in high society knows her...”
“That’s enough. Do you really think such an offer would work on me?”
I took a step toward Elisabeth.
In that instant, a look of bewilderment flashed across the face of the woman who had been desperately trying to escape the situation.
“W-Wait! You’re too close...!”
She stumbled backward, only to find her back pressed against the wall.
At the same time, her red eyes, filled with unmistakable anxiety, met mine.
“Considering we’ve seen all there is to see of each other, are you really one to talk about personal space?”
Who was it that was using her status to harass someone just a moment ago?
A deep blush bloomed across her once-shameless face.
“Surely Her Highness, Princess Elisabeth of the great Nivia Kingdom, wouldn't go back on her word...”
“F-Fine! I get it! I’ll do it, okay?!”
“Is that a promise?”
Having secured her confirmation a second time, I turned away with a satisfied smile.
“Wh-Where are you going?!”
Elisabeth’s trembling voice called out to me as I headed for the window.
“Please wait here for a moment. I’ll be right back.”
Crunch. I stepped on the windowsill, littered with shattered glass, and leaped out of the shop.
Immediately after, I used the building’s exterior as a foothold to make my way to the roof.
The wall crumbled like a cheap cookie, but that wasn't my problem. Her Highness the Princess would compensate for it anyway.
Reaching the rooftop in a single bound, I faced the strong wind and looked to the east.
Something that looked like a dot was fleeing, leaping from roof to roof.
“Fast, aren’t you.”
It was the assassin who had been observing the situation from outside the shop.
I could just let him escape, but since I was getting a first kiss out of this, I figured I should at least tie up the loose ends.
[Thought Acceleration]
My hair, which had been scattering in the wind, fell still.
I closed my eyes and focused on the flow of my magic.
The distance between me and the target was roughly 800 meters.
This was my first time attempting a precision strike from this far.
‘Though it’s not that far.’
My blue magic power took the form of a spear, a bolt of lightning more brilliant than the dazzling sun. My target was the dead center of the small, fleeing mark.
As time resumed its flow, I gripped the shaft of the spear.
Normally, I would have launched it with magic, but today, I felt like throwing it myself.
For the record, I had never learned how to throw a javelin.
But my internal energy naturally began to surge, and the muscles throughout my body swelled.
[Formless Electric Body]
All my senses sharpened, and I instinctively knew how I needed to move.
Within my expanded field of vision, the distant, fleeing target felt as if it were right in front of me.
Thump!
I braced myself on the balls of my feet and twisted my waist.
Rotating my shoulder, I hurled the spear toward the target.
[Lightning Spear]
The tip of the lightning spear tore through the air as it shot forward.
The fierce wind and the flash in the sky naturally drew the gazes of the pedestrians on the street upward.
CRACKLE-BOOM!!
Soon, a clap of thunder echoed under the cloudless sky.
It was the result of the magic I had compressed to its absolute limit for accuracy being released. Screams erupted from all over as the unexpected lightning bolt struck.
Only after confirming that the spear had pierced the assassin did I withdraw my internal energy.
If I had missed, I was planning to run him down and catch him myself.
‘Good thing it hit.’
Playing tag with an assassin in the middle of the capital would have been a huge pain.
Still, I hadn't expected to hit him on the first try. The result was surprising.
“Was it thanks to my martial arts?”
In any case, it was an encouraging outcome.
But now that I’d done it, worries followed.
Not only had I used a spell of that magnitude in the heart of the capital, but the roof of the building struck by the lightning had collapsed.
Fortunately, there didn't seem to be any casualties, but it was something that could easily be turned into an issue if someone wanted to.
‘Well... the princess will take care of it.’
I was a little concerned, but I had the justification of protecting the princess and dealing with her attacker.
Who was going to complain about me using a little magic to save a member of the royal family?
Even if a problem did arise, I trusted Elisabeth to handle it somehow.
‘If worst comes to worst, I’ll just burn down a part of the capital and escape.’
After reining in my magic and internal energy, I descended and re-entered the shop.
At that moment.
Shluk—
A small dagger flew out of the darkness and pierced my palm.
It was strange. My barrier was definitely still active.
But the dagger had reached me as if to mock that fact, as if it had ignored the barrier entirely.
I pulled the dagger out of my palm.
The pain was minimal. I’d come too far to cry out over a little hole in my hand.
I could feel the faint residue of magic from the dagger.
‘A magic tool?’
And a high-quality one at that, engraved with a high-level enchantment capable of piercing my barrier.
No matter how I looked at it, the effort required to enchant a mere dagger like this was excessive.
If the same enchantment had been placed on a sword, its value would have been in the billions.
But by engraving it on a dagger, its value had been reduced to a tenth of that.
What a waste of money.
“Do assassins these days carry things like this?”
While I was distracted by the dagger, dozens of hidden weapons flew toward me, surrounding me as if to trap me.
Clang!
Of course, they all hit my barrier and fell to the floor. Part of it was because I had increased the barrier’s output, but the main reason was that they were ordinary weapons without any enchantments.
Beyond the darkness, I could see the blurry silhouette of a person.
There was no need to guess their identity. They were obviously in league with the ones who had attacked Elisabeth earlier.
But this one was clearly different from the six I had already dealt with.
Mainly in terms of skill.
‘To be able to avoid my magic detection and my senses, they must be one of the best among B-rank. In this world’s terms, would that be an upper-grade Aura Expert?’
Even when I focused magic into my eyes, I couldn't see the shop’s interior clearly.
It was as if darkness had settled in.
‘An innate ability?’
Innate abilities were powers one gained upon awakening.
The vast majority of hunters operated based on these abilities.
The figure hid within the unnatural darkness, constantly changing position as they threw hidden weapons.
The magic-infused projectiles boasted speeds comparable to bullets.
Of course, thanks to my barrier, they weren't much of a threat.
‘This is annoying... Should I just blow up the whole building?’
There was no guarantee they didn't have another barrier-piercing dagger.
No matter how much I strengthened my barrier, they might have an enchantment powerful enough to get through that as well.
But I couldn't just blow up the building because I didn't know where Elisabeth was. If she got caught in the blast, her life would be in danger.
The only silver lining was that I couldn't smell blood anywhere.
Perhaps their goal was never assassination, but kidnapping.
“This princess is seriously high-maintenance.”
My magic began to boil.
If the darkness created by an innate ability was annoying, I just had to crush it with light.
I modified the formula for Light magic, sacrificing all stability to ridiculously boost its power.
With this, it wouldn't matter if Elisabeth got caught in it.
Of course, in the worst-case scenario, she could go blind, but that could be fixed with divine power.
“?!”
Sensing that something was amiss, the assassin’s movements changed completely.
CRASH!
They abandoned their previous tactic of hiding in the darkness and throwing weapons to keep me in check, and began to attack directly.
The daggers in both hands hammered relentlessly against my barrier.
The series of heavy blows made me wonder if I was being beaten with a blunt weapon.
“...Are you sure you’re an assassin?”
Only a few seconds had passed, but cracks were already forming on my barrier. Their physical strength was hard to believe for an assassin.
At this rate, it was only a matter of time before my barrier shattered.
But I had no intention of just standing by and watching.
After all, a few seconds was more than enough time for me.
My opponent’s mistake was recklessly abandoning their ranged attacks to close the distance.
Just as I was about to deploy the Light magic to blind them and finish them off with my sword...
“Stop!”
A familiar voice echoed through the shop.
At the sound of a voice that should not have been there, both my and the assassin’s gazes snapped in its direction.
“Tina! What are you doing right now?!”
There stood Elisabeth, in plain sight.
*
Once the situation was sorted out, the three of us found ourselves in a meeting.
“...A bodyguard?”
“Yes.”
After hearing the whole story, I looked at the woman bowing her head to me.
“I will gladly accept any punishment for my insolence toward Her Highness’s savior.”
Her name was Tina, and she was Elisabeth’s personal bodyguard.
Apparently, Elisabeth had slipped past her and snuck out of the royal castle, forcing Tina to run all over the capital looking for her. She had then happened to sense my magic and tracked me here.
It seemed my magic must have leaked out when I was taking down the assassins who had broken into the shop.
‘...I can’t believe she detected that.’
She was more than worthy of the title of royal bodyguard.
She wore a skin-tight latex suit, and from her curves, she was clearly a woman.
The fact that Tina was a woman was more surprising than the existence of such an outfit in this world.
The force of the daggers that had been hammering my barrier just moments ago was hard to attribute to a woman.
‘Is she a beast-kin? Her face is covered, so I can’t tell.’
If she was a beast-kin and not a human, the strength she had just displayed would make sense.
Their natural physical abilities surpassed those of humans.
“Well, it was all a misunderstanding, right? You don’t have to worry about it.”
“But...”
Tina’s voice trailed off.
“Are you really okay with blood dripping from your palm like that?”
Elisabeth had brought a bandage from somewhere and wrapped it around my wound.
Of course, having never done it before, her work was incredibly clumsy.
“...I’m deeply honored.”
“Sh-Shut up! It’s my first time doing this!”
A small laugh escaped my lips.
I could stop the bleeding with magic anyway, and drinking a bottle of holy water later would heal it in no time.
“...By the way, what’s your name?”
“Pardon?”
“Your name! What is it?!”
Why are you suddenly yelling at me?
Faced with a princess who was increasingly losing her composure and becoming more aggressive, I hesitated.
Was it right to tell this woman my real name?
This might just be a one-day connection.
It was better not to create any potential problems—
Tug.
As I was lost in thought, someone gently tugged on my collar.
“Is it... hard to tell me?”
It was Elisabeth.
Her pleading eyes trembled faintly.
‘...Well, it probably doesn’t matter. This isn’t Earth.’
Calculating the pros and cons of every single thing was exhausting.
And it felt wrong to assume that a connection I made would become the source of a problem.
“It’s Kang Hyun-woo.”
“...Kang-hye-noo?”
“Kang Hyun-woo.”
“Kkang-hye-noo.”
“...”
“Pfft!”
As I stared at her, Elisabeth finally burst out laughing.
Just as I thought, she was deliberately mispronouncing it.
“What a weird name.”
“Is that what you say to the person who just saved your life?”
Is this why they say you can’t trust pink-haired girls?
“...Whatever. It’s not like you saved me for free.”
Only then did I notice her flushed face.
And I realized.
Her strangely aggressive attitude was a kind of smokescreen to hide her embarrassment.
“Wh-What are you looking at... Aren’t you going to collect your payment...?”
I fought back the laugh that threatened to erupt.
If I laughed here, this princess might actually explode.
“Of course, I am. Why do you think I worked so hard, even getting a hole in my palm?”
“...”
Just as I was about to approach her as she fidgeted, her eyes darting around as if an earthquake was shaking them...
“Sir Hyun-woo.”
Tina, who had been standing by and observing the situation, spoke up.
“I apologize for the impertinence, but I have a request.”
“?”
“The payment Her Highness, Princess Elisabeth, has promised... would it be possible for me to fulfill it in her stead?”
At that moment, Elisabeth’s brow furrowed.