And So She Submits

Where had it all gone wrong?

Faran couldn't say. How did Alvin know she had been trying to assassinate him?

For an assassin who had never once failed a mission, the shock was total. She had always believed there was no one better—no matter the assignment, she had always found a way to see it through.

Assassination. That was the only reason she existed. The only life she had ever been permitted.

So he knew after all.

He must have known at least since the day he gifted her that dagger. Known that she was an assassin. That he knew was already hard enough to comprehend. What she couldn't understand at all was that he had known—and done nothing.

Is he that confident?

It was as if he were telling her that nothing she did would matter. Why had he simply watched her? Had he been keeping her under surveillance? To what end?

The deeper she thought, the more tangled her mind became. She had never experienced anything like this. It was beyond her capabilities, and she had no choice but to admit it.

What bothers me most is how he knew everything…

She had thought she knew a great deal about Alvin. It turned out she knew almost nothing.

There's something more to him. There has to be.

She had taken him at face value—a wastrel, a good-for-nothing. But what if everything he had shown her until now had been a lie? An act? Then—

What is he hiding his true identity for?

She didn't know what Alvin really was, or why he had been pretending. What she did know for certain was that he knew everything about her.

Failing for the first time was painful enough. Standing before an enemy who had already seen through her completely filled Faran with fear.

Yes. That sensation she had kept feeling from Alvin—it might have been her own fear of him, misread all along.

Faran was lost. The feelings she held toward Alvin, that strange sensation—she could no longer tell them apart. But she would not give up. Even if it killed her, seeing a mission through to the end was an assassin's duty. It was all she knew.

"So why are you trying to kill me?"

Faran said nothing. She simply held my gaze, steady and unblinking. Outwardly she was a blank wall, but a glance at her psychology told a different story. She was in turmoil—fear and terror, emotions an assassin of her caliber was tasting for the first time. The woman who had once been a byword for dread among her own kind could hardly believe she was the one feeling it now.

Handled right, this could make everything a lot easier.

"I'm afraid I don't understand what you mean, Young Master."

Playing dumb, then. And doing it like a professional—not so much as a twitch.

"You weren't trying to poison this tea and kill me?"

I tapped the rim of the teacup and smiled at her. Right now, in this moment, I needed to look completely at ease. The more unbothered I seemed, the deeper her fear of me would run.

"At least you didn't use the dagger I gave you. That's something."

If she had come at me outright with the blade, we never would have gotten a conversation like this off the ground. I was genuinely grateful for that much.

The moment I mentioned the dagger, her pupils started to tremble.

"How long have you known?"

The instant she realized her cover as an assassin was blown, she seemed to decide there ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was no point in hiding anymore.

"I've known you were an assassin from the very beginning. Why did you join the Gilbert family? Was it to kill me, like you just tried to?"

"…"

"Then why try to kill me now?"

"…"

No answer. Or rather—she couldn't answer. So I checked her psychology and looked inside her head.

I found more than I'd expected. Information I hadn't known, and more than a few things I could use. The keywords that surfaced most often in her mind: the temple, a revelation, a mission, a strange sensation, and a deepening question about me.

What surprised me most was that there were still facts about this world I didn't know. I'd played the game long enough that I'd assumed there was nothing left to learn. Apparently I was wrong. From here on out, I couldn't afford to get careless.

The temple, huh.

This world had several temples dedicated to the gods who governed it. I couldn't tell which one she was thinking of, but whichever it was, they had been preparing for the Demon King for a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠very long time. The temple received revelations and communed with its god, then passed those revelations down to children—raising kids like Faran according to the divine word.

The revelations she had received without end. The sensation that had held her in check. Those things had been the entire axis of her life, and she had followed them with something close to worship. She couldn't have done otherwise.

"So I take it the reason was a revelation from the temple?"

"!!"

It was the first time I had ever seen genuine shock on her face. She mastered it almost immediately, though. Then, still composed, she slowly sank to her knees and looked up at me.

Is she submitting?

Too early to relax.

Faran asked her question with care.

"Just who are you?"

"You speak as if you know everything about me."

Even as she questioned me, her expression barely shifted.

"I would like to know what it is you want from me."

But the tremor in her voice gave her away.

"Answer my question first. Why were you trying to kill me?"

A check of her psychology told me the revelation wasn't actually why she had decided to kill me.

"Because you were an unknown variable, Young Master. That is all."

The existence that had shattered the brief stretch of her life in which she had been free of the revelations.

"It is true that a revelation is what brought me to the Gilbert family."

"But quite apart from that, the change in you—your new behavior—frightened me."

"I judged that you needed to be eliminated."

For someone who had only ever moved on orders, it was the first time she had ever had to decide something for herself. An unknown future. People fear what they cannot understand, and the more she learned about me, the less she understood—so she had held that fear up against the terror the sensation had always given her. She couldn't make sense of me, and she couldn't make sense of the sensation either. The sensation she couldn't do anything about. Me, she could erase. So she had done what she had always done, and decided to assassinate me. That was how she would protect her freedom.

Which meant I could use all of this.

The temple had sent Faran to the Gilbert family and then washed its hands of her. She didn't actually know what she was supposed to do. She just clung, blindly, to the idea of freedom. So I would give her what she wanted—and take her for myself.

"Faran. Why do you think you're here?"

"Why…?"

She echoed it in a small voice.

"To meet me. You were prepared for the sole purpose of meeting me."

"And those sensations you felt? In the end, they were leading you to me. That sensation points right here."

I tapped my own chest as I said it.

"Ahh…"

"Faran. I know everything in this world."

I walked toward her, slowly.

"You asked who I was. I am your savior."

Then I leaned in and spoke against her ear.

Faran turned her head and looked at me.

"And I can free you from everything that torments you."

Faran nodded.

And in that instant, the ability that always came through for me stirred to life.

By demonstrating that I knew her, I had given her proof that I knew everything. And then the binding effect came in to put real weight behind my words, accelerating a heart that was already starting to give. I had declared that I could fill the one thing she had always hungered for—freedom. Caught between her own feelings and a situation she couldn't properly grasp, she had no choice but to follow me.

"From now on, Faran, you just do as I say. I'll make things easy for you."

I held out my hand.

She took my hand. And she submitted.

The binding was already at work. Faran was beginning to feel at ease simply by being near me. From now on, I would be the reason she lived. I was the only one who could fill what she lacked.

"From this day forward, I shall follow only you, Young Master. Truly."

"Good. Welcome aboard, Faran."

From that moment on, Faran threw everything she had into serving me. Having the finest assassin in the world moving on my behalf meant I could stop worrying about getting knifed in my sleep. And with no one left whose opinion I had to tiptoe around, life had just gotten a whole lot more comfortable.

The Hero Summoning ritual wasn't far off. Before it happened, I needed to hurry up and prepare to become one of the Hero's companions. I needed to get stronger. I needed experience. I knew a few dungeons that would serve that purpose well, and I intended to hit them.

First, though, I took Faran and paid a visit to the Guild. It was the place adventurers went for contracts and information, which meant it was always packed—a natural spot for new encounters. I figured it wouldn't hurt to pick up a decent companion while I was there.

I just didn't expect to run into another NPC I had created. And not just any NPC—a genuine pervert who only got stronger the more you hit her.