The Invisible Blade's Betrayal
“…….”
Invisible Blade sealed her lips.
Thinking back on it, she had been operating separately from the rest of us the entire time. Because she was a ninja, moving alone in secret? No — she had another purpose. She must have planned to get her hands on Jupiter’s ledger first. Then Philip Jupiterain had responded faster than expected, and the whole thing had gone sideways.
That silence was answer enough to my question. I waited quietly for her to speak. Dragging this out hurt her, not me.
“Haa.”
A deliberate sigh. Her voice was so pleasant it somehow came out sounding almost sultry.
“You’re right. I took a double commission.”
“Taking a double commission on any job is a betrayal of trust.”
“Not if you don’t get caught. I’m a ninja. Not getting caught is what I’m good at.”
“Does your broker know?”
“What do you think?”
“He doesn’t. Any broker with half a brain wouldn’t touch something that would wreck his career — no, end it entirely.”
Mercenaries took jobs and did the work. Brokers took a cut, handled the commissions, and matched them to the right mercenaries. The moment a broker started playing games with contracts, they were finished in this business. A mercenary’s career would take a hit too, of course… but a mercenary with real skill always had a chance to bounce back.
“You’re sharp. I got the ledger recovery job two days before the mission started. And yes — the client is exactly who you’re thinking of.”
“If he went so far as to hire you… that councilman already knew what Philip was doing in the casino basement.”
“Does that matter?”
“…No. At this point, I’m more curious why you took the double commission at all. Why do it?”
“Nothing grand. Easy work for a seriously big payout. …As you can see, though, you screwed everything up. I’m bitterly regretting it. I never should have pulled you into this job.”
Invisible Blade shook her head from side to side.
“I could pretend I didn’t see anything.”
“And the condition? You want money? I can give you about thirty percent of the commission. It’s a lot of cash. You won’t regret it.”
I shook my head. I had started the fried chicken business precisely so I wouldn’t be bound by this kind of thing. The business was still in its early stages, so money was needed, sure — but time would take care of that. The chicken operation was already growing. And I didn’t need a huge sum right this second. What I wanted was to settle a question that had nagged at me every time I looked at her.
“Ninjutsu.”
“Hm?”
“I’m curious about the ninjutsu you use. As far as I know, ninjas form hand seals when they cast. But there are times you use ninjutsu and times you don’t. If you’d opened your Astral like a mage… I could understand it. But you haven’t, have you?”
“Hmm. So that’s what you wanted to know?”
The kunoichi made a little nasal sound and folded her arms. My eyes went instinctively to her chest. Pushed up by her arms, it looked even larger — each breast roughly the size of a human head. Maybe bigger.
“Sorry, but the answer is no. You think I’d sell my secrets over something this small?”
“I swear I won’t tell anyone else.”
“Aren’t you underestimating ninjas a little? What makes you think I even need to deal with you?”
“Planning to silence me the ninja way — by killing me?”
“If I have to… gladly!”
Clang!
In a single instant she closed the distance, her blade slamming into my barrier. Looking closely at the ninjato, I could see water clinging to the edge, vibrating at high speed. She was using water to boost its cutting power — one of her ninjutsu techniques.
She used ninjutsu without hand seals again.
Kiiiiiiing!
One layer of the barrier sheared clean through. That blade was basically a chainsaw right now.
Four barriers left. Still room to work with.
“…I thought you were low on mana. For someone running on empty, that barrier’s awfully solid.”
“I am low. But I’m still in better shape than you are right now.”
“Caught me. You’re right. I pushed myself pretty hard dealing with Philip when he went berserk. He was no ordinary bastard. But… killing you won’t be a problem.”
She reversed her grip on the blade and spun. Transparent blades of water spun off the edge, carving through the air and slicing into my barriers. Every time she moved the sword, the scattering droplets were almost beautiful.
Has she forgotten I can use lightning magic?
Electric Field
I stamped my foot. Lightning surged out from me and flooded the room. I flicked a finger. The current racing in every direction wrenched sharply toward her and crashed down. An unavoidable attack.
She flung her ninjato into the air and formed hand seals with both hands in a blur. I watched, slightly appalled, as her fingers shifted more than ten times in a single second. She caught the falling ninjato again. Instantly, a pillar of water erupted around her and blocked the current.
Her voice came from inside the water column.
“If you thought water meant I’d be weak to electricity, you were dead wrong.”
“Water created by magic or abilities is basically distilled water. Did you really think I wouldn’t know that?”
From the open back of the room, an elemental sword flew in and buried itself in the water pillar. It didn’t pierce all the way through, but the cold successfully sank into the column. The water froze solid in an instant. She was as good as trapped in ice.
I didn’t let my guard down. I was already preparing the next move. It was obvious that ice pillar wouldn’t hold her for long.
Crack!
A blade punched straight out from the center of the ice. It vibrated, and the tremor spread through the entire pillar. The ice couldn’t take it — it shattered and collapsed in a glittering cascade.
“…Is that ninjutsu too?”
“A ninja’s secret technique.”
A massive killing intent rolled off her. That thick, concentrated bloodlust made my body flinch for a fraction of a second. It had been a long time since I’d been hit with killing intent this dense.
A mistake. That tiny flinch opened a gap — and she used it not to attack me, but the ledger clutched against my chest. She flung the ledger into the air first. Then she formed hand seals, just like before.
A huge water droplet formed in midair and swallowed the ledger whole. The inside of the droplet spun, shredding the book to pieces. And it didn’t stop there — it began dissolving the remaining scraps into sludge.
I sucked in a sharp breath.
This was my mistake. Thinking about it, she never needed to take the ledger with her. Her client didn’t want the ledger — they wanted to make sure it never ended up in anyone else’s hands.
The ledger was gone. Not a single scrap left.
Even if I reported this to the client, would they believe me? Or would they believe the ninja’s lies? Maybe they wouldn’t believe either of us.
“I should have taken the ledger from you first.”
“And you think you could have?”
“…….”
It wouldn’t have been easy.
That was when I felt a presence behind us.
A muscular man with a giant green onion hairstyle and four swords at his hip strode into the room. He took one look at us and grinned.
“So this is where you were. Judging by Philip’s corpse, the mission’s done. We’re cleaning up outside too.”
I pulled the radio from my ear. It had been quiet for a while — apparently the signal didn’t reach down here.
Mons eyed Invisible Blade and let out a whistle.
“So you’re the ninja? Hotter than I expected. I know a decent bar. Want to come along?”
“Sorry, but you’re not my type. That muscle density is disgusting.”
“That so…”
Mons’s face fell and he sighed. Then he finally noticed the strange atmosphere between us and asked,
“Something happen?”
“Nothing happened. Right?”
The kunoichi looked at me.
I hesitated, then nodded.
“Nothing happened.”
She walked straight out. I followed slowly behind her.
I thought it over.
Was this really over?
Reporting the ledger to the client wasn’t the real problem.
What I had to worry about was her retaliation. Would she really let this slide? Would she leave someone who knew her dirty secret alive?
One of the things I’d learned living in this world was that simply knowing someone’s secret could be reason enough to die. Back when I was in the Freesel Kingdom’s army, several of my assignments had been to kill civilians who knew too much about some noble’s scandals.
She’s a mercenary and a ninja. In other words, an assassin. She can’t be trusted.
Making an enemy of a ninja at her level would make everyday life a nightmare. Constantly watching for assassination attempts was exhausting. Worse, Yuria could get caught in the crossfire.
Better to eliminate the threat here…
The moment we came out of the secret passage, she suddenly broke into a run. Startled, I took off after her.
Haste
I forced myself to keep up, even burning magic to do it. It was hard, but not impossible — she was pretty worn out herself.
Detection
Whenever she threatened to slip out of sight, I immediately cast a detection spell. Thanks to her cyber suit being damaged, she lit up on the scan right away.
—Hey. Where’d you two go all of a sudden? Having fun without me? I’m a little hurt.
Mons’s voice crackled over the radio. I hesitated for a second, then spoke. Hesitating this long had been the real mistake. The moment she took that double commission, she had betrayed me — no, us. And she hadn’t stopped there. She’d betrayed her own broker too.
“The ninja betrayed us. She destroyed the ledger right in front of me. Thanks to that, our mission is only half a success. I’m chasing her now.”
—Need backup? Just give me your position and— damn it. Ambush. …Are they trying to bring the whole building down?
I could picture the situation clearly.
“…They want to bury the machines that were underground. Destroying the evidence.”
—These aren’t ordinary gang thugs. Professionally trained, the real deal! Fall back. Their target isn’t us. Nothing in our contract said we had to protect the building. The ledger’s already gone. Mission ends as a half success.
Mons’s voice was cold and practical.
Mercenaries were that kind of people. No surprise there.
—Lucky for us, they’re not pressing the attack. They reek of the same profession.
“Can you support?”
—Sorry, but it looks rough. We’re walking a tightrope here. The second we pull out, there’s no telling how things shift. The moment they decide we’re undermanned… they might turn on us. You should ease off the chase and let her go too.
“Understood.”
That was what I said. But I had zero intention of giving up.
For the sake of what came after, Invisible Blade had to be dealt with — now.