Three Assassins and an Oversized Sword
The moment I'd identified the dangerous presences, I slipped out of my room and hurried into the Grand Duke's, suppressing my aura as much as I could.
I closed the door without a sound, then turned around — and found myself meeting a pair of violet eyes.
It was the Grand Duke.
Uh-oh.
With one hand I slid the lock shut on the door while my eyes trailed over his bare upper body. It was a good thing he'd gotten out of the bath early, having sensed the assassins' approach — the problem was that he'd only made it as far as a pair of linen trousers.
Good thing I packed easy-to-pull-on trousers.
It bothered me a little that he hadn't managed a shirt, but I consoled myself that at least I hadn't barged in before he'd even gotten his pants on.
"Your Highness, I count about three of them."
"Right."
The Grand Duke answered coolly, and without the slightest urgency or impatience, reached for the sword propped at the head of the bed.
He hadn't properly dried off, so droplets of water dripped steadily from the ends of his black hair.
The fallen drops traced lines down his chest and his abdominal muscles, over the backs of hands where veins stood prominently raised.
Every last bit of it toyed with my vision.
That shameless—!
I clenched my jaw hard.
And yet.
I am not who I was that day.
The butler who had once floundered at the mere sight of the Grand Duke's bare skin no longer existed. Get knocked down once, and you'd better get your head straight by the second. Right?
Steadying myself, I moved forward calmly.
The Grand Duke glanced at me for a moment, then picked up the lamp on the bedside table and blew out the flame.
Fwoosh—. The room plunged into darkness in an instant.
Whoooo—. Only the occasional moan of the wind outside filtered in through the gaps in the old window.
"Over here."
The Grand Duke pulled me by the shoulder, positioning us in a corner of the room where we could defend ourselves most easily. We waited for the assassins in a somewhat closer embrace than before.
His warm body heat pressed against my back. Fresh from the bath, his temperature was far above the human average.
I thought I caught the sound of a heartbeat — thump, thump — though I couldn't tell whether it was mine or his.
Focus.
Who cared how warm he was, or whose heartbeat that was? What did any of it matter?
This is my first real combat beside the Grand Duke as his butler.
I couldn't afford to be caught out.
Not so much as a trace of the swordsmanship or body techniques I used in Tenasis.
Just then, the Grand Duke's hot breath settled at my ear.
"Your sword?"
Without turning around, I glared hard at the door and answered in a whisper.
"...Wouldn't it be odd for a butler to carry a sword?"
"You're already odd in every way. One more sword isn't going to make you any odder."
"...Then stop nagging and buy me one."
"Fine. I'll get you one."
"...Pardon?"
Really?!
His answer caught me so off guard that I whipped around—
Whoa!
—and sucked in a sharp breath. The Grand Duke's jaw and lips were right in front of my face.
Too close...
Apparently he felt it too, because he drew back slightly.
And this time, his scent — which I'd been stubbornly ignoring until now — cut straight through to my lungs.
That scent again.
After years spent among sweat-soaked men, I'd never once met a man who smelled like this.
It wasn't soap. It wasn't cologne, either.
Much as I hated to admit it, was I supposed to conclude it was simply the way the Grand Duke naturally smelled?
I turned my head back toward the door and spoke.
"...That promise you made. ...Don't forget it."
"..."
His answer didn't come right away. Then, after a moment, the Grand Duke pressed something into my hand.
Hm? I looked down at what now sat in my grip. It was the hilt of the greatsword he wielded.
He wrapped my fingers around that thick, rough grip — so wide my hand couldn't even close around it — and said,
"Bare hands are dangerous. Use mine."
"...Pardon?"
I looked down at my hand again.
Against that broad, long hilt, my hand looked small and pitiful almost to the point of comedy.
Is he in his right mind? He wants ME to use this?
A greatsword had never been my weapon of choice to begin with. And this one was so massive and heavy that any ordinary person would have needed both hands just to lift it.
It was no exaggeration to say the Grand Duke was the only person alive who could swing something this size one-handed like a mere tree branch.
Looking utterly exhausted, I pushed the sword back into his hands.
"How am I supposed to manage something this size? I can't even fit it in one hand."
"I never thought of it as that big."
"Oh, you didn't? Well, then allow me to educate you. It's big. Huge. Biggest thing I've ever seen."
Veeeery big. Do we understand each other now?
"..."
Tsk. I clicked my tongue and glanced back and forth between the door and the window.
"Besides, I just need to take down one assassin and relieve him of his sword. Problem solved."
The weapon of a soon-to-be-dead assassin would serve perfectly well. The place was crawling with them, after all.
So weapons weren't a concern.
And worst comes to worst, I could snap off a chair leg and fight with that.
At that, the Grand Duke murmured under his breath.
"That's a trick for knights on the battlefield. Our butler certainly knows a bit of everything, doesn't he?"
Eep.
I cleared my throat lightly and lowered my voice.
"...Well, these are desperate circumstances. It's not as though there's a choice."
Seriously, the man has an uncanny eye for exactly the wrong details.
Just then — swish. The sound of fabric brushing against something.
The window.
When I looked toward it and turned to the Grand Duke, he gave a silent nod.
Creak—. The window let out a short scream, and the assassins poured swiftly into the room.
They already knew we lay in wait for them.
Kadrian moved first.
The enormous man moved with the speed and grace of a lightning bolt splitting a rain-soaked night sky.
Thk, krk. Two heads went flying in a single stroke.
WHAM, CRASH—! Bodies and heads hit the floor out of rhythm, filling the room with a deafening clatter.
Of course, while the Grand Duke was putting on his show, I wasn't exactly standing idle either.
I didn't even need to steal a sword. The assassins were hardly incompetent, but the Grand Duke and I were simply in another league entirely.
"Ghk!"
Having subdued the last assassin, I slammed his head into the floor and demanded:
"Who sent you?"
"..."
A moment of silence — and then at last, frothy blood came bubbling from the assassin's mouth.
Damn it. He chewed the poison.
I confirmed the final assassin's breath had ceased, then withdrew.
"My apologies, Your Highness. I meant to take one alive and trace him back to his employer... I didn't anticipate the poison."
As I bowed my head, Kadrian set down his greatsword and came over.
"Any injuries?"
"...None. And you, Your Highness?"
"None."
With that brief answer, the Grand Duke brushed past me and opened the window.
Then he began picking up the assassins' severed body parts, one by one, and hurling them outside.
"Interrogating them properly here is a lost cause anyway. That's why I dealt with them in a single stroke."
"..."
Thud. Thud-thud—. The sound of corpses landing outside was deeply unsettling.
"Hey! What the hell is this?!"
"What's it look like? Corpses! First time seeing one in this neighborhood?! If you're not going to help, get lost!"
The voice of the innkeeper arguing with passersby drifted up from below the window.
No cause for worry there — the inn was run by a vassal of House Valrot, so the aftermath would handle itself. Toss and forget.
He stood with his back to the window and looked at me.
"There's no need to go digging poison out of the mouths of men who come at you fully prepared to die. They'll send more assassins from the same place regardless."
From his words, I could sense just how many assassins had come calling before now — and just how many corpses he'd had to dispose of.
"I want to wash up."
"I'll prepare it."
I suggested switching rooms because of the smell of blood, but the Grand Duke refused.
Well, fair enough. This much blood was hardly going to bother a man like him. No more than it bothered me, anyway.
I wiped up what blood I could from the floorboards, gathered the weapons scattered across the floor, and stepped out.
When I moved to prepare the bathwater, the Grand Duke insisted on doing it himself.
It suited me fine to go rest early, so I didn't press him twice.
"Rest well, then, Your Highness."
"Good work."
"Yes, Your Highness."
With a shallow bow, I left the Grand Duke's room and disposed of the clothes I'd used to wipe the floor, along with the leftover weapons.
I'm hungry.
Even after witnessing the gruesome sight of men dying, the body responds with complete honesty.
I had used aura and moved my whole body through combat — it was only natural.
Staving off my hunger, I had a brief word with the innkeeper and then headed up to the third floor.
He'll be bathing right about now.
I fished out fresh clothes for the Grand Duke from my luggage bag in my room.
Since that little incident earlier cost him one outfit...
I made a mental note to buy him a few more before we departed for the imperial palace.
I packed generously, but you never know. The attacks might not end with this one.
Before entering the Grand Duke's room, I pricked up my ears.
SPLASH, whooooosh—!
My keen hearing caught the sound of bathwater overflowing its tub.
Good. Still washing.
In quick, drop the clothes, and get out.
With that thought, I turned the handle of the Grand Duke's door.