Chapter 54
Translator: penny
Chapter: 54
Chapter Title: Assassin Family Raven (12)
Watching Princess Rosetta hurriedly stuff anything valuable from the desk into her bag, I could tell just how desperate she was to escape the clutches of the Raven family.
Kwa-ga-ga-ga-gak!!!
By the time Princess Rosetta emerged from the office, her small bag stuffed full, the family head's residence had begun to crumble.
The Raven family members took it in stride, but the Crow family—especially those reformists—looked utterly lost, not knowing what to do.
Would the Raven family be back to normal if I just stepped out for a bit and returned? Absolutely not.
If they dreamed of reverting to primitive times, maybe.
But seeing that overwhelming power, I felt a flicker of competitive spirit.
Could I achieve that kind of strength by continuously enhancing Shadow Mastery?
Something indeterminate—not quite tentacles or spines—began writhing and extending, encroaching on the Raven mansion.
And the direction of that encroachment was toward the adjacent Crow family estate.
"Your Highness, get on my back."
"Yes. We need to hurry, or it'll be dangerous."
The princess climbed onto my back without hesitation, and I swiftly escaped the Raven mansion.
Kwaaaaang! Kwa-ga-gak!
At the entrance, a large number of Raven family servants had already fled outside and stood dazed, watching Terrance Raven's destructive rampage.
A massive shadowy maw began devouring the mansion as it advanced.
The Crow family, realizing the anomaly, started evacuating, but shadows erupted wildly from the ground, as if determined not to let anyone escape.
'Could the Demon King actually be Terrance Raven?'
It would stop eventually, right?
For now, with the princess on my back, I decided to flee down the Path of Vengeance.
The people waiting along this path had been blankly watching the commotion at the Raven mansion when someone spotted me and shouted.
"It's Cian Raven and royalty!"
"We must hide your identity. Keep your head down."
"Yes…!"
The assassins from the Raven family did the killing, but the one who permitted it was royalty.
With less martial prowess than the Raven folk, she was an easy target for vengeance.
I entered the forest and used Shadow Cloak to roughly drape shadows over the princess.
It wasn't full assimilation with the darkness, but it was enough to conceal her face.
The princess, having heard me earlier about hiding her identity, had pulled her hair forward to obscure her figure.
Her shoes were a bit feminine, but aside from that, she wore pants, so she wouldn't stand out as a woman.
Carrying the princess on my back, I raced along the Path of Vengeance.
"Catch them!"
"That one permitted the killings!"
The princess's arms tightened around me slightly.
She had intellectually grasped the act of killing someone based on a report, but facing the resulting fury firsthand was new to her.
"The ones I chose deserved to die…."
She whispered so softly only I could hear.
The targets Princess Rosetta had selected for assassination were indeed all deserving of death.
As the Holy Kingdom's paladin had told me, there were so many that even death seemed too lenient a punishment—a way to escape true justice.
Among our pursuers, the skilled ones caught up to me quickly.
No matter how strong Cian Raven's power was, running with someone on my back slowed me down.
It was a shame I couldn't use shadow magic myself.
"I'll kill you both!!!"
"Cian. You're fleeing to hide my identity, right?"
Princess Rosetta spoke in an even tone, despite the hate-filled voice directed at us.
"Yes. That's correct."
"Once the Raven family descends into chaos, this Path of Vengeance won't function anymore, will it?"
"Probably not. The family head seems to want nothing to do with the imperial family."
The family head was still destroying the Crow estate. Who knew how many would die?
The intelligence agents dispatched to branches would be wondering what the hell was going on.
"Then let's not run. Cian, kill everyone chasing us."
"Understood."
I twisted my running body and released the princess's thigh.
The moment she let go of my neck and rolled off my back onto the ground, I focused on the enemies ahead.
Shadow Craft.
I formed a sharp longsword of shadow and charged.
"Ciiiian Raveeeen!!!"
This guy had caught up thanks to his stamina, but only because I was carrying the princess.
As I rushed him, he swung a sharp hand axe down at me. I used Shadow Armor on my left shoulder, condensing shadows to block the strike, then pierced his heart.
"Gurk…?!"
"I told you to go home how many times? If you're going to throw your life away on the Path of Vengeance, I'll burn it for you."
I released the sword from his pierced heart and kicked him away.
As the man collapsed, the first sword vanished, and I crafted another with Shadow Craft.
Of the five charging at me, the front three hesitated, while two turned to flee.
When we rebuild the Raven family next time, I hope there's no Path of Vengeance.
The man at the forefront extended his clenched left fist toward me and shouted.
"Flame!"
Flames burst from his ring toward me, but I blocked them with Shadow Armor.
I felt the heat, but it fully blocked direct contact.
Once the magic tool expended its charge, I dispelled the Shadow Armor, and the lingering heat vanished instantly.
Shadow techniques were something Cian Raven could use as easily as breathing, but objectively, they were incredibly advanced.
How long would it take Yoo Sian to master them?
It wasn't time to return yet, so I pushed those thoughts aside.
"That monster!!!"
The magic tool must have been single-use; he charged with a dagger. I swung first.
Seok.
I severed his right wrist gripping the dagger and stabbed the exposed chest with my shadow-forged sword.
That made two.
The remaining two exchanged glances and charged together.
"Uwaaaah!!!"
"Die!!!"
Seeing their wide-open attack, I used Shadow Craft to form daggers in both hands and hurled them.
They raised swords and shields to protect their chests, but they guarded the wrong spot.
Puk. Puk.
The shadow daggers embedded in their foreheads and vanished.
The two who fled left a bad taste, but once I returned the princess to the palace, it would be fine.
Glancing back, I caught a glimpse of the princess hiding behind a tree, brushing dirt off her pants.
"It's over."
"Really? You're fast, as expected."
She replied but didn't emerge from behind the tree, clearly not wanting to see the corpses I'd made.
It wouldn't help her to look at the bodies of those killed on her orders.
Two with blood pouring from their hearts, two with pierced foreheads.
I approached the tree and said to Princess Rosetta.
"Shall I carry you?"
"I think I can walk now. I'll go on foot."
She'd brushed off the dirt from the front, but her golden hair and back still had smudges.
"Your Highness, if I may."
Not wanting to touch her body directly, I gently lifted her hair to dust off the dirt.
"Ah. Thank you."
"It's because of me it got like that."
We walked to the starting point of the Path of Vengeance, keeping a slight distance between us.
A number of Crow family members were there, and upon seeing us—the first to emerge—they rushed over.
"Cian, what the hell happened at the main house?"
"The Crows say Terrance Raven, the family head, went berserk. Is that true?"
"The family head is simply cutting out the rotten parts. Crow intelligence agents continue their missions as usual. Raven assassins halt operations for now and act autonomously to the extent they can liaison with Crow agents… But the Raven family won't listen to me."
Neither Kairendal nor Kaela, my peers, nor anyone above them would heed my words.
Then Princess Rosetta stepped forward and spoke.
"By the name of Rosetta Yurishian, I convey this to all: For the time being, no assassination permissions will be granted to the Raven family."
"We'll relay that."
"What will you do now, Cian?"
"I'm planning to rest. I've been on back-to-back missions."
The Holy Kingdom mission took a long time to return from, but counting it as a mission until return, it was consecutive.
One wasn't done by me but by Cian Raven—though no one else knew that.
"What about you, Your Highness? I think returning to the palace is best."
When I said that to Princess Rosetta, she shook her head slightly.
"I want to see those good things for myself. The Crows pass on various intel, but what I really need to delve into are reports on the truly deserving."
"Could I hide my identity and wander outside for a bit?"
She seemed mentally overwhelmed, understandably so.
Confirming the extent of a villain's crimes, knowing her choice would mean their death.
Thinking about it, had the family head's order to entrust the princess to me considered this? That blood-mad man? Probably not.
I briefly pondered the family head still wreaking destruction in the distance, then had no choice but to change my plans.
"Then I'll accompany you, Your Highness. Do you have a way to conceal your identity?"
"A disguise magic tool should hide my hair color. Wearing clothes from the village should sufficiently mask me as Princess Rosetta."
"Cian, where to?"
Even as sounds of destruction echoed from afar, her voice brightened at the thought of wandering incognito, already sounding excited.
Traveling incognito with the princess might make it hard to get stronger for a while in this world?
The thought crossed my mind briefly, but since I'd grown by clearing quests, I could probably take quests while hanging with her and level up again.
Plus, I'd spotted someone likely to trigger a flood of quests at dawn.
Roman's hero party—why not head that way?