The Crow's Demise
Henderson turned around and could hardly believe his eyes. Schluss Heinkel, who should have been overwhelmed with gratitude just for being spared, had raised his hand. And his finger was pointing straight at Henderson.
"You thought you could break into the dormitory and walk away unscathed."
"Ha! Hahat! Come on now! You think you can take me on?"
Only after a moment did Henderson grasp the meaning, and he burst into mad laughter. It wasn't the involuntary giggle caused by his head injury. It was genuine, incredulous laughter.
"Didn't I tell you my name earlier? I'm Henderson! Crow Henderson! You don't know? The one who assassinated the Crown Prince! The strongest Crow! Haven't you heard? And yet you want to... Heh, hehahat... This is ridiculous."
The name Crow Henderson was known throughout the continent, not just the Empire. In some regions, there was even a saying that Henderson would come take away crying children. He had become synonymous with terror. Yet this man still dared to challenge him.
After laughing for a long while, Henderson brushed his hair back and composed his expression. His eyes glared, but his mouth remained stretched in a grin—a rather grotesque sight.
Ding... Ding... Ding...
"No manners when addressing your senior?"
The clock chimed midnight. It didn't seem like Schluss was ignorant of the name Henderson. He was simply arrogant, intoxicated by his own talent. In that case, there was no choice but to teach him just how high the sky truly was.
If he inflicted a fatal wound, it would hinder Henderson's activities as a Crow, so vital points had to be avoided. Then... perhaps tearing off his jaw would do. If sealed quickly with magic, there would be no risk of death. And that arrogant mouth would finally stop flapping.
Henderson slipped his hand into his pocket and fiddled with the luminous stone inside.
"I need to educate you first..."
Mid-sentence, he pretended to drop one of the luminous stones. As it rolled across the floor with a small sound, Schluss's gaze predictably followed it. Henderson squeezed his eyes shut and cheered inwardly.
At that moment, the luminous stone exploded, scattering brilliant flashes in every direction.
"...will do!"
"Urgh?!"
Henderson's figure shot forward in an instant. The moment the stone detonated, Schluss—who had been staring directly at it—should have lost his sight. It was a simple yet reliable trap that exploited human defensive instincts. No one could let their thoughts override their instincts in that fleeting moment, which was why it had never failed before.
All that remained was to rip out the jaw of Schluss, now rendered combat-incapable by blindness. It was a perfect ambush.
"Huh?"
Henderson's eyes widened. Schluss's hand was aimed precisely at Henderson's head. No matter which way he moved, the fingertip followed without the slightest deviation. He had clearly taken the full brunt of the luminous stone's explosion—how could he still be seeing?
Such questions flashed through Henderson's mind.
"Bang."
"......!"
A quiet word slipped from Schluss's lips. Immediately afterward, a massive wave of mana crashed over Henderson.
Mana Emission Magic.
The spell had deployed so quickly that he couldn't react, but that was fine. Mana that hadn't undergone elementalization didn't have particularly high output. The mass of mana penetrated the barrier surrounding Henderson. There were still three more layers inside. Thinking they would all hold, Henderson felt relieved—
"Huh?"
When the second and third barriers shattered in succession, he panicked. But by then, it was already too late. Henderson's dagger was about to embed itself in Schluss's jaw.
"Heh! Hehahaha!"
Bang!
The tidal wave of mana struck Henderson's head directly. Unable to withstand the pressure, his skull shattered into pieces, and fragments of blood and flesh scattered backward, staining the corridor.
Henderson never reached Schluss. He simply collapsed to the ground.
Without a head.
"......"
Schluss was momentarily speechless at the grotesque sight.
***
If this were a movie, it would never receive an all-ages rating. Looking at the blood smeared everywhere, that thought suddenly occurred to me.
"Ha......"
In the end, I had succeeded in killing Henderson. Now that the reality was sinking in, the tension drained away all at once.
There had been no particularly clever trick. It was simply that Schluss's body was immune to the luminous stone. Blinding eyes that were already dead wouldn't accomplish anything. After that, I had used Selection and Concentration on my mana and poured everything into him at once.
His quadruple barrier would have been able to defend against most attacks even if caught in an unexpected ambush. After all, the setting was that even 50,000 mana at point-blank range would be more than enough to block. But what if 100,000 mana was poured out instead?
In a spell deployed in 0.01 seconds, he had no time to react. All his barriers were pierced in an instant. The result was this mess—the scene of blood and flesh scattered everywhere.
Would this even come off? I might have to replace the wallpaper and carpet entirely.
"......Emilia?"
Something bumped against my back. Emilia had grabbed my clothes and buried her face against it.
"Why...... why......"
I felt intense trembling, and occasionally heard sniffling sounds. Don't tell me she was crying......? Steel-hearted Emilia? That couldn't be. This must be an act as well. Emilia wasn't the type to be frightened by something like this.
As my mind wavered, my inner reason quickly reached a conclusion.
"You must have been very scared. It's okay now."
"No, that's not it...... Why...... Why did you put a knife to your neck there......"
This is an act......? The occasional choked sobs and sniffling sounds kept confusing me. This made it seem like Emilia was genuinely worried about me.
"I'm sorry. Because of me...... You almost died because of me. I was only a hindrance......"
Hindrance, my ass. If Emilia hadn't bought time by struggling, my neck would probably have been cut off before midnight, before the ability's cooldown reset.
"No. If Emilia hadn't made a sound, I wouldn't have woken up. Emilia saved my life."
That was a lie. I hadn't fallen asleep in the first place. Something had felt off, so I had stayed awake.
"But why...... Why would you risk your life for someone like me......"
"You're my attendant. From the day we made the contract, I had the duty to take responsibility for Emilia's life."
If Emilia died, Hurtlocker would become an uncontrollable villain. So I had no choice but to save her even at the risk of my own life. Emilia's death was equivalent to the destruction of this world.
"Emilia."
"Yes?"
I turned around and looked down at Emilia. Her face was covered in tears and snot. To become a spy agency ace, you needed to be able to act this well...... I was impressed.
"If you wish, you may terminate the contract."
"Huh? No. Why would I terminate the contract—"
"Think carefully before answering. It's a matter of life and death. Such incidents will continue to happen without end. Emilia will face countless crises, just like today."
I was speaking seriously. Honestly, if asked whether I could save Emilia every time like today...... that was a difficult question to answer. If Emilia died, the ending would be a million light-years away due to Hurtlocker's complete corruption, so I absolutely had to keep her alive. Considering that, it would be better to keep Emilia at a distance. But there were also considerable benefits to keeping her by my side.
Currently, Emilia was the only link between the spy agency and me. To appeal that I was harmless to the spy agency and rather favorable, I needed to keep Emilia by my side. If I couldn't bring the spy agency in as an ally, the ending would still be infinitely far away. So Emilia was like a double-edged sword.
"Each time, I will do my best to save Emilia, but there are times when luck isn't on our side. It means I can't always guarantee your safety. Even so, will you remain my attendant?"
It was too difficult a task for me to choose. So I gave Emilia the choice. Whether to stay. Or to leave.
Emilia's answer was obvious. She probably didn't know it would be this dangerous, so of course......
"I'll stay."
"......Yes?"
I thought she would leave. What was going on.
"If Heinkel is okay with it, I'll stay. I'll serve you to the best of my ability. I'll try not to get in the way. I'll follow you to the ends of the continent. So please don't fire me......"
Emilia grabbed my hand with both hands and came closer. Right. Emilia was someone who valued the success of the operation more than her own safety. I remembered that belatedly. This too was her desperate struggle to make the operation successful.
I suppressed the laughter that was about to escape and pulled my hand away. Then I held it out to Emilia again. After tilting her head for a moment looking at that hand, Emilia soon seemed to understand my intention and carefully took it with one hand.
"Then it's a renewal of contract. I'll raise your salary by 100 percent."
"Hehe, thank you."
Emilia looked up at me and gave a seductive smile. Even though I knew it was a calculated smile to sway my heart, I almost fell for it. Emilia smiling with tears in her eyes was that beautiful. And charming.
Seeing my character I created shining brilliantly, I felt an indescribable satisfaction and chuckled again.
***
The aftermath was handled swiftly. As soon as the name Henderson was mentioned, Sergei and Ludwig were summoned in less than an hour, and along with the investigation department personnel, they sealed off the mansion and began the investigation.
Surprisingly, the conclusion came quickly. The conclusion that the owner of the corpse was indeed Henderson. I thought it was impressive that they figured it out even without a head. It seemed they had collected fingerprints or something in advance.
"No injuries?"
"Yes. I'm fine."
Sergei approached and spoke. He didn't slap my back hard like usual, but had a somewhat serious expression.
"It's fortunate you're safe. I have a lot I want to say, but first I should apologize."
"Apologize?"
"After the previous terror incident, I was in charge of the investigation, but this happened...... I'm truly ashamed."
Sergei slightly bowed his head. The academy did bear some responsibility for the intrusion, but...... There was nothing Henderson couldn't penetrate among barriers made by humans. It was an unavoidable disaster. Yet, the fact that he bowed his head to a commoner showed Sergei's broad-mindedness.
"It's fine. Anyway, I'm sleepy and want to go back to sleep. When can I use the mansion again?"
"Aren't you sleepy now? After killing Henderson......"
"I have class tomorrow, Professor."
"Tsk. What a carefree fellow. Alright. Let's talk about the details after getting some sleep. But you probably won't be able to use a single room in the dormitory tonight."
I knew it. It was the death of Henderson, whom the imperial family had been chasing for years. Probably, people from the imperial police and the imperial palace would all come to confirm before the mansion's seal was lifted. So they would lend me a room in the dormitory building. I would have to stay there for the time being.
Just as I was thinking that, a low voice came from behind.
"So I'll lend you the director's residence."
"Yes?"
"You can stay there as long as you want, or return to the dormitory single room later. The director doesn't use the residence anyway."
Turning around, it was Ludwig with his hands behind his back. The director's residence referred to that huge four-story mansion located within the academy grounds? It was empty? Why......?
'Ah.'
Come to think of it, there was a setting that Alexia slept curled up on the desk in the director's office. It wouldn't be strange for the director of the Imperial Academy to have a mansion within the academy grounds, so that huge mansion had become empty. I never expected the director's residence, which was barely mentioned in the original work, to appear in this way.
But there was one person who would be troubled if the mansion suddenly became more than twice as large. Emilia. Her cleaning burden would increase tremendously.
"The place is protected by the director's high-output barrier, so you don't have to worry about being attacked."
"Alright. I'm sleepy anyway, so I need to go get some sleep first. Emilia?"
"Yes? Ah? Yes......"
"But why is your attendant like that?"
"She seems shocked from seeing the blood. Don't worry about it."
Emilia followed behind me with a dazed expression. Watching her walking weakly, I had a hunch. That wasn't an act. She was probably regretting renewing the contract by now.