The Ice Drake of Zamari
Denning Rose laid a map across the round table. The paper was still crisp—clearly drawn up for this job and no other.
"The Drake nested in the Zamari Mountain Range. It's not far from here."
As she named the range and unfolded the map, a mass of mountain terrain packed with contour lines spread into view. The survey work had been so thorough that the topography could be read from the parchment alone.
Raon looked down at the map and smiled faintly.
The Zamari Mountain Range, huh.
Fortunately, he knew the place.
The Zamari range lay deep to the west of Lokan, where the Sepia Merchant Guild made its home—a barren stretch of mountain country, so poor that even monsters were scarce.
Weathers Village...
His finger traced a small village that appeared if you branched off to the right on the road into the mountains.
So it's still there.
A warm memory rose unbidden: a mission from his assassin days, and the people of that village offering an outsider like him a bed and a meal.
"Hasn't the Drake been going after the villagers?"
"It's some distance from the mountains, and the Drake has been moving toward the western sea. No one has been hurt yet."
Denning Rose shook her head over the map.
"Still, it looks like they'd be better off pulling back a little..."
"Weathers Village's specialties are wild raspberries and chestnuts. Those are the goods that let them scrape a living out of that barren country, so even knowing the danger, they won't leave easily."
"I see."
She was right. No matter how wildly monsters ran amok, walking away from the only home you'd ever known was never a simple thing.
"If Lord Raon takes the Drake this time, they'll be able to live in peace as well."
She smiled as though making a request.
"They say Weathers Village's raspberry pie and braised chestnuts are the finest on the continent. After you catch the Drake, be sure to eat some before you come back."
No.
He tried to stop her mouth. Too late. The words finest on the continent had already driven themselves into the gluttonous Demon King's ears like a nail.
"Ohh?"
Wrath shot to his feet and jabbed a finger at the map.
"Raspberry pie and meat stew?"
Braised chestnuts...
"Raspberry pie and braised chestnuts? Excellent! This King has always wanted dishes like that! We'll have roast Drake with those two as dessert! Depart at once!"
The creature clapped him on the shoulder as if to ask what he was still standing around for.
Why would we eat the Drake...
"Dragons are hard to eat, so we'll have to settle for that. It's meat with a decent chew, at least."
Please...
Raon shook his head and looked back at Denning Rose.
"Who did the Black Tower send?"
"Black Hand Chief Harrison and his subordinates, from what we can tell."
"Black Hand Chief..."
Fortunately, it was a name he'd heard. Harrison was a known quantity even inside the Black Tower, a man who had reached Upper Master. With so much time passed, he would have climbed to Master-Peak by now.
Someone I can break. And besides...
If things went wrong, he could always run.
He had the Sensory Veil of Frost Flowers now. Lay the plan out fine enough, and if the danger grew too sharp, he could simply slip away.
Raon turned the scheme over in his head and looked at the map again.
The terrain isn't bad either.
The mountains sprawled in every direction, broad and unruly, full of places to hide.
The perfect ground for reaping someone else's harvest.
The Black Tower would move to take the Drake. The Shadows would be watching for nothing but a chance to kill him. Smash a pack of people carrying out their missions in complete ignorance into one another, and sweep the lot of them off the board—this was exactly the space for it.
"The nest will be at the summit, then."
"That's right."
Denning Rose stretched a finger to the center of the map. Of course the Drake had nested on the highest peak.
"Drakes often leave their nests empty for long stretches. That's why they build in dangerous places—so other species can't come near."
She narrowed her eyes, as if to say that even reaching the nest would be no small task.
"From what we've gathered so far, this Drake returns to the nest every seven to ten days. It left three days ago, so you should be able to get into position first."
"I see."
Raon nodded. That was enough time to reach the mountains before the Drake came home—and enough to wait for the Black Tower or the Shadows as well.
"Does it have an attribute?"
"A-an attribute?"
Dorian's eyes flew wide and he lunged in.
"Drakes have attributes?"
"They're unattributed by default. But the ones that live a long time, or that are born strong from the start, carry attributes the way dragons do."
"Uuuuugh..."
Dorian's mouth fell open as if he'd never heard such a thing. His jaw trembled.
"Unfortunately, yes. It does."
Denning Rose nodded, her expression heavy.
"Ghhhkk! W-what is it?"
Dorian swallowed dryly and slammed a fist on the table.
"Ice, from the look of it. There were traces of a frost breath near the nest."
She let out a breath and scratched the map lightly with a fingernail.
"Iiiice?"
"Ice, is it."
The reactions could not have been more different. Dorian's face went bloodless, as if he were choking. Raon could not keep the smile off his mouth.
Ice is good.
His water-attribute resistance sat at seven stars. Even if he took the Drake's frost breath at full force, square in the chest, he would barely feel it.
"No—they're saying the Drake is strong, so why are you smiling? The Black Tower is in this too! Doesn't that make you nervous at all?"
Dorian let out a helpless puff of air, as if he could not believe what he was seeing.
"The Black Tower we just deal with. The Drake being big is the point. It makes winning the test your father set that much easier."
An attributed Drake meant a creature of enormous size. Clean the thing up properly, and the contest was already as good as decided.
"Huh..."
"Ah..."
Dorian and Denning Rose both stared at him with the blank look of people encountering a specimen they had never seen before.
"Unfortunately, this information still isn't complete."
"That means..."
Raon met Denning Rose's eyes and nodded.
She hasn't given it to anyone.
Black Market intelligence always had to be accurate. Not yet complete meant she had not passed this on to a single soul.
"One of our informants is standing by in Weathers Village, the one I mentioned. You can take their help."
"Thank you."
Raon rose and bowed his head to Denning Rose. To say she had done everything in her power would not have been an overstatement. He was simply grateful.
"Th-thank you!"
Dorian scrambled up and bent at the waist as well.
"Ah—may I ask one more favor?"
"What is it?"
"If someone inquires about the Drake of the Zamari Mountain Range after noon tomorrow, could you go as far as saying that it exists?"
Even if Derus heard Phalen's information, he would not move at once. This was the last piece in the lie being built for him.
"Mm..."
Denning Rose smacked her lips lightly and nodded.
"It isn't a falsehood, so sharing that much should be fine."
"Thank you. Then, as for payment..."
"I told you finding the Drake would be free."
"The Black Tower got involved. I should pay for that."
"It's all right. If you hadn't been there, Lord Raon, I wouldn't be here either."
Denning Rose smiled and shook her head.
"...Still, if you insist on giving me something, bring back some raspberry pie and braised chestnuts from Weathers Village. I'd like to try them myself."
She laughed as if that would be more than enough.
"Ohh!"
The first to react was not Raon. It was Wrath.
"Then we'll have to stop in the village, won't we? We'll have to taste them, won't we? And just in case, we should buy two as gifts, and eat the ones that get smashed ourselves, yes?"
Already vibrating with anticipation, Wrath muttered this peculiar arithmetic and licked his lips at length.
When is this gluttonous Demon King ever going to come to his senses...
"That much I can certainly do."
Raon shoved Wrath aside and nodded to Denning Rose.
"I'll bring back the best pie they have."
Derus Robert's office.
Unlike the clear sunlight pouring through the windows, the room itself was thoroughly cold. Into that space stepped the butler, Rezel.
"My lord."
"Did you find him?"
Derus's gaze speared him before Rezel could even bow. He meant the unidentified bastard who had wrecked the Undersea Dungeon.
This should have been the hour when his temper had long since cooled. But he had lost elixirs, spirit beasts, and even Matio in the same stroke, and Derus still had not shaken the anger off.
"I am sorry."
Rezel bowed his head in silence.
"We searched every person who looked like an outsider. We found no one who had set foot in that place."
House Robert's lands were beautiful year-round, and tourists flooded in without cease. Hunting a suspicious face there was no different from finding a needle in a haystack.
"Hah..."
Derus let out a breath and looked at the ceiling. When his eyes came down again, the cold composure had returned to them.
"I suppose I'll have to accept it."
"My lord..."
"If you didn't find him, then why are you here?"
"Phalen Sefia of the Sepia Merchant Guild took the bait."
Rezel drew a document from his coat.
"Phalen Sefia..."
Derus stroked his chin, his gaze settling.
"However, contrary to our expectations, she is not asking us to deal with the first and second children. She wants the youngest sibling and the swordsman accompanying him handled first."
"The youngest, and an accompanying swordsman?"
"It is someone you know well, my lord."
Rezel turned the document around and set it on Derus's desk.
"Hm?"
Derus looked at the paper and frowned.
"Raon Zieghart? Why is this one here?"
"The youngest of the Sepia Merchant Guild, Dorian Sepia, turned out to be from the Light Wind Squad. He had been concealing his surname, which is why it never came to light until now."
"So the two of them slipped out of Zieghart alone and went to Lokan?"
"So it appears."
"Since when? Have you traced their movements?"
He pressed his fingers into the desk and lifted his chin.
"They seem to have been traveling in disguise because of the kidnapping by Eden. When they moved, and how, has not been determined."
"......"
Derus frowned at the name written on the document—Raon Zieghart.
It couldn't be him. No. That's impossible.
Even granting the assumption that Raon Zieghart possessed the assassin Raon's knowledge, it made no sense that the boy would have information on the Undersea Dungeon. While that assassin had still been alive, the dungeon had been sealed shut, and not a scrap of intelligence had leaked out.
And yet...
The feeling was bad.
Every time he looked at the name Raon Zieghart, something uneasy crawled under his skin. That much was certain.
"What is the exact content of the request?"
"The test set by the current head of the Sepia Merchant Guild is to bring back a Drake's corpse."
"A Drake..."
"Phalen Sefia eavesdropped on Dorian's room and claims to have learned the Drake's location and where they intend to go. If we accept the request, she will send that information at once."
"Hmmm..."
Derus flicked a finger, closed his eyes, and opened them again.
"Even if Raon Zieghart tagged along, going after the youngest instead of the first and second children is a little strange, isn't it?"
"We looked into that as well. She was humiliated the very day Raon arrived. If I may explain in more detail..."
Rezel gave a brief account of what had passed between Raon and Phalen.
"Not a check, then—revenge? That would make sense."
Derus nodded slowly. Hearing Rezel out, he understood why Phalen wanted Raon and Dorian removed first.
Things are getting interesting.
He had thrown Phalen the bait, but the odds of her taking it had not been high. That an opportunity had arrived thanks to Raon, just as he had been preparing to approach from another angle, was a curious turn.
"Tenebre still isn't back?"
Derus tapped the desk lightly.
"It will likely take another two weeks."
"Then send Loctan and his Poison Men."
"Loctan..."
"To eliminate Raon Zieghart, a method other than raw force is the better play. Loctan should at least be capable of taking them down with him."
A chill smile touched his mouth, as if the whole shape of it were already drawn in his mind.
"Understood."
Rezel bowed without a flicker of doubt, as a matter of course.
"I will make the preparations as soon as Phalen contacts us again."
"Don't move at once. Purchase the information from the Black Market and cross-check it first."
To the last, Derus refused to let his guard down. Confirm the intelligence, he said.
"Yes."
Rezel bowed with precise courtesy and left the room.
A cold surge of energy flared. Derus reduced the document Rezel had given him to dust, and that chill smile lingered on his face.
I thought he was nothing but an obstruction. And here he is, creating an opportunity for me.
In return, I'll craft him a painful death.
Noon the next day.
Phalen Sefia crossed to the window and pulled a letter from where it had been tucked into the frame. She did not look at it. She set it on the table in the center of the room.
"Th-there's an answer."
"Well done."
Raon smiled faintly, picked up the letter she had laid down, and unfolded it.
The assassination request is accepted.
Compile the information on Raon Zieghart and Dorian Sepia and insert it by this evening.
As expected.
If the Black Snake had been an ordinary assassin guild, they would never have taken this job. But Derus Robert stood behind them.
Just as he had predicted, they had accepted the request in order to kill him and slip a leash around Phalen Sefia's throat.
Raon burned the letter with the Cultivation of Ten Thousand Flames, then drew a sheet of paper from his coat.
"Write a note according to this and tuck it into the window."
"Ah—yes..."
Phalen Sefia's jaw trembled as she took the paper. She unfolded it, read the contents, and her eyes flew wide.
"Um..."
The hand holding the paper shook. She swallowed dryly.
"May I ask just one thing?"
"What is it?"
"Why are you drawing assassins in? The Black Snake is an assassin group that has never failed. Even for you, isn't that dangerous?"
"Even if it's dangerous, I can't leave people who trade in human lives alone."
"Ugh..."
Raon looked down at Phalen Sefia with a gaze like winter iron. Her throat bobbed as if she were a frog set before a snake.
"Bullshit. There's no way you'd think something like that."
Wrath frowned, looking thoroughly unimpressed.
He's not wrong. But...
It worked on other people.
The 'hero' epithet is convenient at times like this.
Thanks to the name Frost-Flower Sword Hero, no one picked at words like these. The title was usually a nuisance—but when he needed to look as though he were acting for some greater good, it was convenient beyond measure.
"All you need to do is follow my instructions as they are. Do that, and you'll sleep soundly again tonight."
"Yes. Yes..."
At the promise that she would sleep in peace, Phalen nodded as stiffly as a doll.
Whatever I did, the trauma has taken hold completely.
It would take her a year at minimum to climb out of that psychological shock. No—Phalen had never been mentally mature to begin with, just stuffed full of pride, so it might take even longer.
Until then...
She would be no different from a servant on their side.
By the time Phalen came to her senses, this guild would already be in Dorian's hands.
Raon confirmed that she had written the information on the Zamari Mountain Range and the Drake onto the contact note in her own hand, then stood.
"A-are you leaving?"
"I need to go ahead and get ready."
He started for the door, then turned back.
"Remember that she can always be watching."
"Ah..."
"And keep your words and conduct as they usually are."
"Y-yes, I understand!"
Phalen nodded, her whole body trembling.
"That's a vicious threat."
Wrath pinched his own arm, claiming it had given him goosebumps.
Raon huffed a quiet laugh and left Phalen's room with his presence snuffed out to nothing.
Once his preparations were finished, Raon left the guild headquarters. Dorian was waiting in front of the gate, fidgeting from foot to foot.
"What are you doing?"
"I know we have to go quickly, but you said the Black Tower is there, so my feet won't move..."
Dorian clutched his head, wailing about why it was always the terrifying jobs that came up.
"Tsk."
Wrath clicked his tongue at Dorian.
"I thought he'd changed a little. He's still a coward."
If people changed that fast, they'd be dead.
Raon huffed a laugh and tapped his sword sheath.
"No need to worry. We're not the ones who'll be fighting the Black Tower."
"Huh? What does that..."
"I called in reinforcements."
"R-really? Did you call the Light Wind Squad?"
"Not them. But they're pretty handy with a blade."
Of course, they're drawing those blades to kill us.
"You're not going to tell him you called assassins?"
If he knew, he'd start wailing and refuse to go.
"True enough. I can see it already."
Wrath snickered at Dorian, who was sighing in relief.
"Let's go."
Raon clapped Dorian on the shoulder and started forward first.
"We need to get into position before the Black Tower does."
"Yessir!"
Brightening, Dorian nodded and fell in behind him.
They were riding the horses provided by the guild out of the city when a noblewoman with a parasol over her face drew up alongside them.
This woman...
There was no mistaking her. It was the presence of Denning Rose, whom he had met only yesterday.
Why is she here?
Executives of the Black Market, true to the name, never showed their real faces in the light of day. Her appearance meant something unexpected had broken.
A low hum of aura rolled out. Raon spread a sound barrier so that nothing would leak.
"There's a problem."
Denning Rose came in close and lifted the parasol a fraction.
"The Black Tower has pinpointed the Drake's location."
"We were expecting that to some degree, weren't we?"
The Black Tower had already been moving toward the Zamari range, so discovering the nest was something he had accounted for. There was still time before the Drake returned. It hardly mattered.
"Yes. But they didn't head straight for the mountains. They took a detour."
A bead of blood welled from Denning Rose's lips, visible beneath the parasol.
"They attacked Weathers Village."