Discovery
An assassin…!!
The instant Schwarz saw the masked man gripping a dagger, he lunged without even a moment to think.
"What the—!?"
Startled by the sudden appearance, the man stumbled backward with a cry of alarm. Confusion flooded the eyes visible above the mask.
A pair of horns rising from Schwarz’s head, black scales covering nearly half his body, and a tail protruding over his trousers—anyone who didn’t know better would have taken him for some unidentifiable monster. The man’s reaction was only natural.
"…"
Yet, as if to prove he was a seasoned assassin, the man quickly recovered. His gaze turned cold and steady as he locked eyes with Schwarz. Schwarz met that stare with equal intensity, his amber eyes gleaming.
One who had come to kill. One who had come to protect. Between them, grand words were unnecessary.
The man drew a second dagger from his belt and settled into a reverse grip. Even to someone who knew little of combat, the clean, practiced stance made it clear he was no amateur.
This isn’t good…
His opponent was a trained killer. Schwarz, by contrast, possessed only superior physical power; he had never properly learned how to fight. Magic would have changed everything, but with Milia sleeping right beside him he had to consider the risk of her being caught in the crossfire.
"Hup…"
A low shout, and the man closed the distance in a rush. Seasoned fighters could supposedly tell at a glance whether someone knew how to scrap or was just a civilian. As if he had already read that Schwarz was no warrior, the assassin swung his blades without hesitation.
"Kh…!!"
Under the relentless flurry Schwarz could only grit out a low groan and take the blows with his body. Through it all Milia remained deep in sleep, showing no sign of waking. Once she drifted off she was notoriously hard to rouse.
Should I be glad about that or not? The thought flickered through his mind even as he focused on weathering the assault. The one mercy was that mere daggers could not pierce his hide.
After several dozen seconds of exchange the man realized a frontal approach would get him nowhere. He leapt back, opening the distance.
Something’s coming.
In the next breath the assassin pulled an object from a pouch at his waist—a candy-sized bead that glowed with an ominous violet light. Unsettling mana poured from it in visible waves, thick and clinging like the bottom of a bottomless mire.
Schwarz tensed at the unfamiliar, malignant power. Without the slightest hesitation the man popped the bead into his mouth and crushed it between his teeth like candy. The foul energy exploded outward, then surged back into him.
"Hahh…"
A pained groan escaped him. He lifted his head with a short breath. His eyes, now a deep, luminous purple, fixed on Schwarz through the darkness.
"…"
Slowly the man raised his daggers. The pressure rolling off him was on an entirely different level; Schwarz swallowed hard without meaning to.
And then—
"Too fast—!?"
In the blink of an eye the assassin was right in front of him, blades flashing. The speed left almost no room to react. Schwarz threw up an arm to block, but this time it was different.
"Guh!?"
A sharp sound, and a small cut opened on his arm. Red blood welled and ran. Schwarz staggered back with a low hiss. The force behind the strike was incomparable to before.
Enduring the pain, he lashed out with a hand tipped in gleaming claws, but the man sprang clear. Schwarz ducked just as a dagger hissed past, shearing off several strands of his hair.
This is actually dangerous.
The ideal outcome was still to subdue the assassin without waking Milia. That luxury no longer existed. Anyone could see he would not win without magic. The best he could do now was move the fight somewhere he could use it without endangering her.
How…?
No plan presented itself. As the one forced to protect, the initiative belonged entirely to his enemy. Sensing Schwarz’s growing agitation, the assassin charged again. Blades too swift to follow carved large and small wounds across his body.
If it’s come to this, I have no choice but to go all-in…!
If he was going to take damage anyway, better to trade flesh for bone. Decision made, he thrust his hand straight into the path of the incoming dagger.
"…!?"
"Ghk…!!"
A sickening thunk and searing pain like fire shot through him. The agony was far worse than expected; he nearly screamed, but clamped his teeth until they drew blood and clenched the hand that now impaled the blade. Caught completely off-guard, the man yelped and tried to wrench the dagger free, but raw strength was the one area where Schwarz still held the advantage.
"Hup!!"
Drawing a deep breath, Schwarz locked his arms around the assassin and hurled them both toward the window.
—Crash!!
Glass exploded outward in a deafening shatter. Their bodies sailed through the air and plummeted toward the ground. Schwarz’s vision flashed white and spun wildly.
"Ow, ow, ow…"
Groaning, he pushed himself up. Across from him the man was also rising with a pained sound. Because Schwarz had been on top, the assassin had taken the worse of the impact; blood streamed from his nose and mouth.
"Damn it… just what the hell are you…?"
Apparently deciding there was no longer any need for silence, the man who had not spoken a word until now demanded an answer.
"Why would I tell you?"
"Shit… fine. I’ll just kill every last one of you…"
Schwarz had no intention of answering. Long conversation was wasted on someone who had dared to target Milia. With a snarl of irritation the man dropped into a low stance and gripped his remaining blade. Watching him, Schwarz began to draw up his mana. In answer, countless arrows of light formed behind his back.
Perhaps deciding he could not afford to give Schwarz more time, the assassin charged straight at him. Schwarz flicked his hand; the light arrows streaked forward. They slammed into the earth with a rapid series of impacts, kicking up dirt, but the man weaved through them with unnatural speed and closed in. His pace already exceeded human limits—yet quantity had a quality of its own. Several of the light projectiles grazed him, leaving fresh cuts across his body.
"Hup!!"
Bursting through the barrage, the assassin leapt high and raised his dagger. Schwarz loosed every remaining arrow at once—
And in that instant—
—Whoosh!!
"Gahk!?"
Something tore through the air from behind and punched clean through the man’s torso. An ugly, wet sound followed, and something warm splattered across Schwarz’s cheek.
"Eh…?"
Stunned, Schwarz could only stare at the figure impaled before him. The man’s eyes went wide; his body trembled once, then went limp.
"This… it can’t be…"
Examining the weapon that had run the assassin through, Schwarz felt a chill race down his spine and lifted his gaze. The object gleaming blue under the moonlight was a massive poleaxe—commonly called a halberd. And in the entire Valentine Countship, only one person wielded a halberd.
"Schwarz… right?"
Through the shattered window stood a silver-haired girl looking down at him.
"Ah…"
A short sound escaped him. Of course. After all that racket it would have been stranger if she hadn’t woken. Even someone who slept as deeply as she did would not have slept through this much chaos.
"I heard something over there!"
"This way!!"
Voices rose from one wing of the manor as the place grew noisy. The guards had finally realized something was wrong.
"Get over here! Hurry!"
"Y-Yes, My Lady!"
Milia called urgently; Schwarz nodded and sprang up toward the half-destroyed window. He made it by a hair’s breadth just as the estate guards arrived on the scene.
"My Lady! Are you all right!?"
"Y-Yeah! I’m fine!"
Seeing the dead man still skewered on the halberd, the guards shouted up at her. Milia answered as if nothing were amiss and waved them off. The gesture was anything but natural, yet the guards’ attention was fixed on the corpse of the assassin; they failed to notice and began murmuring among themselves as they secured the area.
"We’ll send escorts at once. Please wait just a moment!"
"Mm. Thanks."
Milia nodded to the saluting guard, then let out a short sigh and stepped back into the room.
"All right… now, care to explain what just happened?"
"W-Well, you see…"
Faced with Milia’s look that suggested she might devour him on the spot, Schwarz felt a tension he had never known before and let his words trail off.
And so the somewhat noisy night in the Valentine count’s household deepened.