The Golden Fox Merchant Guild Leader (2)
"...Sian. Will you help me?"
Yvelin's voice trembled faintly. Yet beneath that delicate quaver lay an unbreakable core of determination.
"At first, I was ready to abandon everything. But after seeing the hero arrive, it seems a new path has opened for me. Still... I won't settle for simply running away."
She clutched the front of my shirt in a white-knuckled grip.
"I want revenge on that bastard who stole the merchant guild my father built. Nothing remains now, but if you help me just this once... I swear I will rise again and repay this debt to you, Sian."
I gazed into her eyes for a long moment. What shimmered in those fox-like slits wasn't tears, but a blazing inferno.
"Fine, Yvelin. I haven't forgotten how you and your father helped me in the past. A debt like this needs to be settled."
At my answer, color flooded back into Yvelin's previously rigid face in an instant.
I rose to my feet and rolled my neck with a light crack.
"So, how do you want to handle this? Should I just carve through every soul in the mansion?"
"No... Some of the soldiers are innocent. They're only obeying under duress. Just make certain you kill Baron Carlton and his inner circle of knights."
A short while later, Yvelin pounded on the door and shouted.
"Excuse me! I'm feeling terribly ill. Could you bring me some water?"
The sound of shuffling footsteps came from the hallway where the soldiers had been dozing. The moment the door swung open and two guards stepped inside with annoyed expressions—
Thud!Thwack!
They dropped without a sound, perfectly unconscious. We dragged their bodies into the room.
"Let's move."
We cleared the third floor and descended to the second. At the end of the corridor leading to Carlton's bedchamber, four knights who had noticed the disturbance came running, swords already drawn.
"Sian, that's the one! The knight who butchered my private soldiers!"
The man Yvelin pointed out wore an arrogant smirk. That smirk never reached its conclusion.
Slice—!
Before he could even finish drawing his blade or settle into a stance, my sword traced a gleaming arc and sent his head spinning through the air.
The remaining knights didn't even have time to dodge the fountain of blood before their own heads tumbled to the floor one after another.
"...As expected of the hero."
We soon reached the lavish door.
Bang—!
The kicked-open chamber reeked of wine. Baron Carlton lay sprawled across the bed, mouth smeared with liquor, snoring heavily.
I approached without expression and delivered a sharp slap to his cheek.
Smack—!
"Hey. You have guests. Time to wake up."
"Ugh... What the... which bastard dares..."
Still half-drunk, Carlton mumbled nonsense with his eyes barely open. Unable to stand the sight of his clueless, idiotic face any longer, Yvelin strode forward.
SLAP—!
Her swing was far fiercer than mine. Carlton's other cheek spun violently.
"Aaaagh!!"
The stinging pain jolted his eyes wide open. He tumbled off the bed and crashed to the floor. When he finally focused on the woman who had struck him, his face twisted in pure terror.
"Y-you bitch! How did you get out?! Knights! Where are you useless fools?! Get in here right now!"
Carlton screamed at the top of his lungs.
Only cold silence answered.
Of course it did. The knights in the corridor had all lost their heads moments ago.
When no one appeared despite his continued shouting, Carlton's face gradually drained of color. His gaze darted between the bloody footprints visible through the doorway and the splatter of blood on my clothes. Only then did reality sink in.
Thump.
He flattened himself against the floor and began groveling, hands clasped together.
"S-spare me! Please, Yvelin, spare my life!"
"Give me one good reason why I should."
At her icy tone, Carlton swallowed hard and began frantically spilling every excuse he could muster.
"J-just think about it! Yes, I tricked you, but I never actually killed you! His Majesty Garon ordered me to behead you completely to remove any future threats when seizing the guild, but I stubbornly refused! Sending you off as another noble's concubine was all an act I had no choice but to stage just to keep you alive! Th-that's right! We were legally husband and wife, weren't we? If you kill me, Garon the Fifth will never let it slide! I-I have a considerable amount of gold hidden in the capital! I'll give you everything I own, so please... spare me..."
Once he'd finished his pathetic tirade, Yvelin turned away without a shred of hesitation. She retrieved a bloodstained one-handed sword from the corpse of a knight sprawled near the door.
"Yvelin? D-dearest! Please!"
Seeing her approach with the blade, Carlton's face turned ashen. He scrambled backward across the floor like a terrified insect.
With her slender hands, Yvelin barely managed to lift the heavy sword and pointed it at his heart.
As a merchant guild leader who had survived every dirty trick and scheme imaginable, she was no stranger to deception. Yet although her eyes burned with enough venom to kill him on the spot, the sword tip trembled faintly.
...She's never stabbed a living person before.
I watched her quivering back in silence.
Snuffing out a person's livelihood with the stroke of a pen and personally driving steel through flesh and bone to end a life were two entirely different things.
Her mind had probably killed him a thousand times over, but for a merchant who had only ever touched ledgers and coins, the primal fear and revulsion of committing murder with her own hands was perfectly natural.
"Die... Just die already, you bastard!"
Yvelin screamed with pure hatred, squeezed her eyes shut, and brought the sword down. But at the last moment, her hands faltered in mid-air, stopping just short of his chest as if lost.
Relief washed over Carlton's face. A servile, ugly smile crept across his lips as he bowed his head.
"Th-thank—!"
Slice—!
The instant the baron lowered his head in obsequious gratitude, the sword I drew from my waist flashed like lightning.
Thud.Roll...
"...Sian?"
Yvelin stared up at me with a dazed expression, stunned by what had just happened.
"If that bastard lived, you'd spend the rest of your life looking over your shoulder, trapped in fear of a knife in the back."
"....."
"We've already crossed a river that can't be uncrossed. No point leaving loose ends behind, is there?"
Yvelin let the sword slip from her fingers. The metallic clatter rang out as the tension finally drained from her body. She realized I had shouldered the entire burden—the weight of murder, the death of the man who had driven her to the brink.
Clang.
Then she rushed forward and threw herself into my arms.
Understanding exactly how she felt, I stroked her golden hair and gently calmed her.
Yet my mind and body had begun operating on completely separate tracks.
...Ha.
The issue was the voluptuous body now pressed tightly against me. The tantalizing glimpses of bare skin through her torn dress. The rich, mature scent of her body teasing my nose. The heavy, soft weight crushing against my chest. My lower body stiffened and swelled without permission.
It was then.
Huh? This woman has become a coupling target?
Suddenly a coupling target?
The timing was completely unexpected. Perhaps the chains of marriage had shattered the moment her husband's head flew off. Or maybe the wall in her heart had crumbled when I took the blood guilt upon myself.
Either way, it wasn't a bad development. But hearing the words "coupling target" immediately made me want to slide my hands down and greedily squeeze her luscious rear.
Hold it together. This isn't the time to roll around in bed. I need to clean up this mess first.
I gave Yvelin a light pat and gently pried her off me, then began the serious work of securing the mansion. I summoned the maids, gathered the remaining soldiers who had been watching nervously from outside, and made damn sure they understood the importance of keeping their mouths shut.
Once the situation had been reasonably stabilized, Yvelin regained her usual composure and spoke.
"Sian. Reclaiming the guild seems impossible now."
Regret colored her voice, but she wasn't clinging to it foolishly.
"All the rights transfer documents have already been delivered to the royal court. If my husband were still alive, I might have been able to negotiate with Garon the Fifth to at least preserve the guild. But with his head severed like that, I no longer have any justification to even appear before the king."
"Then what's your plan?"
"I never intended to remain in a kingdom ruled by a madman anyway. I'll sell the mansion, gather every last coin I can, and start over from scratch in another country."
A decisive resolution truly worthy of a formidable woman.
We immediately smashed open the baron's safe, which had been hidden in the corner of the bedchamber.
"That insane bastard... How many gold bars did he embezzle from my guild's funds...?"
Inside lay the gold coins and double ledgers he had secretly siphoned from the Golden Fox Merchant Guild, all neatly stacked. And nestled among them was one rather interesting item.
"This is... an invitation to the royal banquet."
Yvelin picked up the ornate envelope adorned with gold leaf.
"It appears to be a secret gathering where Garon the Fifth quietly assembles his closest aides and collaborators. He must have received an invitation as reward for delivering my guild."
Now the path forward was clear.
My original plan had been to infiltrate the royal palace as a high-class slave, no matter how long it took. But with the guild now lost, that option had evaporated.
This invitation, however, changed everything.
"Yvelin. From now on, you will attend that banquet as the proxy of the late Baron Carlton—or rather, as the official guild master who transferred the guild."
Yvelin's fox-like eyes curved into perfect arcs as she instantly grasped my meaning.
"And you, Sian, will disguise yourself as my personal escort knight and stride through the main gates with me?"
"Exactly."
"Perfect. Since the hero saved my life, the least I can do is escort you straight into the heart of the royal palace as my exclusive guard knight."
"Much obliged, madam."
At my playful tone, Yvelin burst into a bright, genuine laugh.