The Assassin and the Wolf
The assassin's attack without a holy sword was no better than a clumsy child's prank.
It was mimicking the same trajectory, but the speed and the mana in the sword were on a completely different level.
“Die.”
“Wait, Arte. It's me. The Hero!”
“Shut it. I don't want to hear it.”
The possibility that the emperor has betrayed his promise now is slim.
It's more reasonable to assume that the empire has fallen or that an external force has broken through their seal and taken the corpse out.
First, find them somehow.
Find them, kill them, and bring back the hero's body.
“Move aside. Time is wasting.”
I infused mana into my heart and swung the sword at the empty air.
“Huh……! What kind of power!”
It was a sword strike meant to make her retreat for a moment, but it seems even a fake is a fake.
The hero's arm, which tried to block the sword strike with all his might, got a bruise.
I need to heal it, heal it now…….
No. Why should I heal it? If it's about healing, those guys who saved the fake can do it themselves.
“That body. Keep it well. I'll come back to take it later.”
First, calm my emotions.
It said to sew and fill it again, but I didn't want to tear that person's body to pieces anyway.
“Wait, don't go, let's talk!”
“I won't talk to you.”
Under the midday sun, I melted into a small shadow and climbed the building's wall.
People in the crowd surrounding me were talking about something, but first, I need to cool my head and gather information.
……My head hurts.
***
The black mana barrier lifted, and Baek Siwoo finally faced the intact 'boss', holding his breath.
White bridges densely carved between the tightly tied black twin-tails.
The face revealed under the long hair still didn't lose its youthful look, but the blood-red eyes were chillingly cold and dry.
A black murder doll with emotions perfectly withdrawn.
She exudes an overwhelming presence and deadly killing intent that is eerie just by facing her.
Clearly.
What, what's going on. I thought we were exchanging blows, but the boss disappeared! Is this a successful extermination?
……It's also cautious to say this, but it seems the boss has fled.
Fled? No, that can't be…… Sorry.
Fled? No, that can't be…… Sorry.
Ignoring the announcer's nonsense, Baek Siwoo, the Hero, recalled the memory of the girl who left.
It was a familiar sight. No, it was the girl that everyone who returned to the present had been searching for.
Although several years had passed, her appearance had changed quite a bit, but it seemed she was the girl who was the youngest member of the Hero Party, reacting to the name Arte.
‘But, that was different from the returnee gate.’
Actually, until the mana veil covering her was lifted, he thought she was the boss monster to be exterminated.
“Um…… Baek Siwoo-nim. Could I ask you to explain what happened?”
I don't know why she was summoned to this world now, but at least confirming that she was alive was enough.
‘If she's alive, we can meet again.’
For some reason, she was hostile to him, but if it was Arte he knew, it could be.
She was originally a child who was suspicious and cautious.
Then, it was time to soothe the confused crowd.
Now, Baek Siwoo, with his familiar fake smile, boldly declared towards the outstretched mic.
“Don’t worry. She is not an enemy……”
Our last comrade in the Hero Party.
***
……It's hot.
I thought to go into the nearby forest to organize my thoughts, but no shade appeared to cool my body no matter how far I ran.
Even if I entered some random building, why are there so many people.
Every time I came out of the seal, years passed from tens to hundreds, so it was hard to adapt in many ways.
“It’s hot. I'll die before I can take revenge.”
Revenge is good, but first, cool my body.
I didn't expect her to develop this fast.
Surely, magic engineering hadn't developed this much before.
This place was eerily similar to where I lived in my previous life.
The endless forest of gray buildings, advertising slogans written in large Korean on huge billboards even in broad daylight.
……Wait. Korean?
“……What?”
I exhaled to calm my mind, and carefully looked around.
The asphalt on the floor, densely rising concrete and glass, low mana concentration in the air.
She ran along the wall of an appropriate building towards the rooftop.
[Uh, uwaa!]
“What! Hunter?!”
Ignoring the screams from inside the building, I jumped between buildings and looked down on the street scene.
It had a familiar modern appearance, but in my previous life, people couldn't walk the streets with weapons as big as their bodies.
I need information.
On a street where people didn't gather, a woman was happily talking to the empty air, as if she had gone crazy.
It's a bit creepy, but as long as I have minimal common sense.
Then, first, non-lethal suppression.
“Anyway, although I failed to meet the real Hero, since I came this far, I'll stop by the Hero Memorial Hall. I need to get the train ticket price too.”
“Don’t move.”
“Huh……?!”
Muscle contraction. Motion stop. Pupil dilation. She was quick to assess the situation for someone who was talking to the air.
The metal sensation on her neck wasn't very pleasant, so the woman stopped obediently.
At least, I don't need to see blood right away.
“Antares Empire. Do you know?”
“Antares wha?”
If it was a person from Arcadia, they wouldn't not know the Antares Empire.
Then, this place is.
“Where is this?”
“Ye, yes? What is…….”
“Here, where?”
“E, e, Seoul Special City, Cheonram-gu, Saebit-dong…… Is, is this what you're asking?”
I knew Seoul Special City, but the back was a place name I hadn't heard.
As expected, different.
“That, give it.”
“Ne? D, do you want money? I have a card…….”
“I don't need it.”
“Th, then what…….”
“Left pocket.”
“Ha, smartphone?”
“Yeah. Give it.”
The woman, trembling like a pine tree all over her body, obediently took out the smartphone from her pants pocket and handed it to me.
The shape itself is familiar.
Then, where…….
“Can't open.”
“Ne?”
“It says it needs fingerprint. Unlock.”
“Ne, ne! I'll unlock it completely for you!”
Even if I am an assassin, I won't cut off a civilian's finger who doesn't resist, but I don't dislike such kindness.
Then, since I received something, I should pay the price.
No money, and I don't intend to receive favors.
In the end, cash.
“You like gold?”
“Gold? What do you mean…….”
“Gold, don't you know? Yellow mineral, shiny.”
“Ah, I know! We like it a lot.”
“Really.”
I took out a suitable-sized gold ingot from my inventory and handed it to her.
“This is the information fee.”
Ignoring the woman's reaction with spinning eyes, I took out another one and put it in her bag.
“This is the item fee.”
“W, what is this…….”
“Ten times. Not enough?”
“Ah, no! Not at all. No more needed? He, hehehe…….”
“None. I'm going.”
Since the sun is hot, I should go to the waterfront and search for information with my feet in the water.
Even if this isn't the Seoul I know, there should be a river.
I turned on the map app on the smartphone in my hand and looked at the surrounding terrain.
There were holes in the middle of the map that were worrying, but for now, I'll figure it out later.
First, let's go to the waterfront.
“Um…… Excuse me.”
“Why.”
“Um, um…… Can I move?”
“……?”
“It can! Thank you!”
For a moment, I thought it was strange that she asked that again, but she couldn't have had experience dealing with assassins as a civilian.
Ignoring the crazy woman who started whispering in the air with a grin, after rubbing the screen while fidgeting, she successfully found the location where I was standing.
The waterfront…… 11 kilometers southeast.
Since it's annoying to run under the blazing sun, I should go into the shadow.
“Wolf. Open your mouth.”
[Grung.]
“Swallow.”
The black wolf that was in my shadow opened its mouth and swallowed me.
A dark but not wet, cozy space.
It was nice after a long time.
“Start. That's that way.”
[Grung.]
“Hungry? Hold it. Go to the river and catch a fish or something.”
A beast with unnecessarily picky tastes, a guy who doesn't eat even after an hour of death.
Since I'm going to the river, I might as well fish.
***
Han River embankment. In the middle of a park where citizens' laughter never stops while enjoying precious leisure time.
A huge shadow wolf spat out a person.
Of course, that person was me.
“Kyaak!”
“Mon, monster? No alarm!”
“Management office, report to the management office!”
Seeing people running away screaming in panic, I wondered if I had done something wrong, but the surrounding quietness was pleasing.
“Well done.”
[Grung.]
The sixth emperor said.
‘Well…… That's about it. If there are no dead, isn't it okay?’
I roughly took off my boots and sat on the riverbank, dipping my feet in the cool water.
Splish. Splish.
[Grung.]
“Swimming is better to go far. The river is wavy.”
[Kiing…….]
“……Then, reduce your body a bit.”
[Kong!]
The wolf, which had shrunk to the size of a small dog, started playing in the water, and I started searching for information while holding the smartphone I had put in my hand earlier.
Hello, this is your friend Mayday. Ask me anything.😊
I was surprised by the sudden voice coming out, as if I pressed a strange button, but the device's operation method wasn't much different from what I knew.
……Ask anything.
“Antares Empire. Do you know?”
[Yes. I know. 😎 The Antares Empire is a fictional country in the JRPG 'Braver Saga'…….]
“No. The Antares Empire is on the Arcadia continent.”
[I'm sorry. It seems I was mistaken. 😔 Then, can you tell me more about the Antares Empire you know?]
“I know what it looked like about a thousand years ago, but I don't know what the current one is like. The emperor doesn't call me often.”
[Understood.😯 By any chance, have you left the Antares Empire?]
“I think so. I don't know why either.”
[It's unfortunate to leave your hometown without knowing the reason. 😢 Do you want to find a way to come back?]
“……I don't know.”
The first time seeing the feature, but it was quite lively and listened well, so I liked it.
[Kongkong! Urrung…….]
“You are a pet.”
[Sniff. Grung.]
“Good, you're quick to trust.”
The world I learned with the voice 'Mayday' was, how should I say…….
Eerie.
A world with almost no mana, suddenly appearing towers and hunters a thousand years ago, returnees, gates and boss monsters spewed by the tower.
Then, am I a boss monster too?
“……My head hurts.”
Just by putting in basic common sense, this much.
I need to investigate the fake I faced earlier.
My head started throbbing from the beginning.
“Wolf. Come up and make some shade.”
[Grung.]
I lay under the shade made by the wolf dripping water from her whole body, fidgeting with the legs dipped in the water and sighed.
If this really isn't the empire.
What if the guy I saw earlier was the real Hero.
No. There is no way a weak human is a hero.
When I recover the body, I should hide it deeper this time.
Build a new road, redraw the anti-corruption magic circle.
Of course, before that…….
“Wolf.”
[Grung.]
“Bite. Don't kill.”
[Kong!]
I have to deal with the guy who has been watching gloomily since earlier.