Otome Game no Heroine de Saikyou Survival [WN] - Chapter 44
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After a month of work, a bundle of magic threads was finally made.
It was about 40 meters with a thickness of about 1 mm. That may sound like a lot, but each pendulum used about 10 meters, so when I thought about it, I only had enough for 4 pendulums in store, which was good as I wouldn’t waste any of it.
When I didn’t have the [manipulation thread] skill, I could only compensate for about 10% of the hit rate, but now that I have the skill, I could compensate for about 30% of the hit rate.
The threads that were made with my blood instead of my hair had a correction of about 20%, but I was certain that the same level of correction could be achieved with these magic threads.
And above all, the thread was strong. No matter how much I strengthened the cotton thread with magic power, Grave was still able to easily see through it and had even cut the thread in the end.
Of course, even this magical thread couldn’t catch a blade by itself, but it must be very difficult to cut this thread that would be flying in the air.
As I was learning from my Master how to treat the threads with antisepsis and fireproofing, and finally strapped on a dark throwing knife to replace the missing blade, my Master suddenly looked up, and I did the same, turning my gaze toward the entrance.
“I sense the presence of someone.”
“… Erase your presence, you unsociable disciple. For now, you go in the back. I’ll deal with them.”
“Yes, Master.”
A human-like presence appeared in a place like this that had not been visited by anyone for the past five months.
According to the master, once a year, a peddler she knew brought her salt and other materials to the place, but now was not the time.
Moreover, even my master and me, with our scouting skills, could not notice the person outside until it was close enough to the perimeter of the house.
Scouting skills did not equal strength, but… this was no ordinary person.
I entered a room at the back of the house as my Master told me to and quietly listened at the door, trying to erase any sign of my presence.
***
“…Come in.”
Celeshura said facing the door, and it opened soundlessly, revealing a tall man in his mid-thirties, the light shown from behind him which hid his features.
The man, with dark blond hair and a refreshing slight smile on his lips, bowed to Celeshura with the gesture of a performing actor.
“It has been a long time, my beloved master. How are you?”
“…I never thought of you as my disciple. What are you doing here, Dino?”
Dino cowered his shoulders in a pretentious gesture at Celeshura, who coldly retorted.
“I have just become the head of the Northern Frontier District, and I have a little bit of an awkward task for you. I thought I would ask my beloved master Celeshura for help.”
“Is there no one at your place good enough to use such a recluse?”
“If it were a normal opponent, there would be no problem, but the other party is a skilled adventurer. If we were to take them seriously, we would suffer a lot of damage. That’s why I’m asking you to help.”
“…I’ve already gotten out of the killing business.”
Dino was a member of the Guild of Assassins.
What did such an organization have to do with Celeshura? Why would Dino, the head of the Assassin’s Guild, call Celeshura “Master”?
Dino nodded lightly and said the words he had prepared beforehand.
“Celeshura, the [war demon] of the Eastern Front of the Demon Tribe, if they know you are still alive, the Knights will come out in force to take you down. With you like that, a party of adventurers in Rank 4 should be no problem, right?”
“…”
Dino threatened Celeshura, still giving his refreshing smile.
Celeshura was a former sorceress in the demon army and had killed many other races on many battlefields. No one knew how she left the demon army, but to escape the eyes of the demon army, Celeshura took refuge in the easiest underworld.
“And…there is another person here, isn’t there? Have you taken a rare disciple? I, as your brother, will have to take care of him.”
“Dino!”
Celeshura’s murderous intent flared up at Dino’s attempts to involve unrelated people, but his smile remained unchanged.
Dino knew Celeshura could not antagonize the Assassin’s Guild.
He was unable to beat Celeshura, but even if he couldn’t, he would have a plan to get away from here. And if she wouldn’t let him go, not only Celeshura but also her new disciple, a young girl, would be targeted by the Assassins’ Guild.
The way of fighting was different between sorcerers and assassins, and once you let them go, your position would be reversed.
No matter how much she might overwhelm him individually, Celeshura could no longer continue to fight endlessly against the organization.
“…This is the last time. Do you understand?”
“Yes, of course. I will no longer ask too much of my beloved master. Now, about the target information…”
“I’ll take care of it.”
***
“You’re not an obedient disciple, you brat! You stay out of this!”
My master shouted at me as I had broken into their conversation as I walked out of the room.
I guessed what she was talking about. This man was probably a member of the Assassin’s Guild, and my master was most likely involved in it. My Master, who had washed her hands from such matters, was now being forced to do their bidding because he used me as a shield.
I ignored my Master’s voice and stepped forward, calling out to her, keeping the man’s entire body in complete view.
“Master, you can’t fight anymore, can you?”
“You…”
“Oh…? Are you her younger disciple? The same as me?”
“Why does it matter? If you’re going to deal with adventurers, I should be more suited for the job than my master, for taking them down by brute force. I’ll go in place of my Master.”
“What are you talking about?”
At my words, the Master momentarily forgot that Dino was even there, and started to scold me.
“Don’t you dare to talk to me like an adult! Do you even know what you’re talking about? He asked me to kill people.”
“It’s a matter of probability.”
Master didn’t say anything, but she probably couldn’t stand a proper fight now.
She was stronger than me, stronger than Dino. But with my Master unable to fight for a long time, I decided that even if my master could accomplish the request, the odds of getting out alive were lower than if I were to fight.
“If the opponent is a human, I have a better chance of surviving than the current master. That’s all.”
“…”
I guessed my master remembered that even though I was a child, I had gone through my fair share of experience and hardships.
Although she was not emotionally convinced, my master also calmly judged the situation, if it were a monster or an overwhelmingly strong person I might not be able to do it, but if it were a Rank 4 adventurer, I would have a better chance than she did because I could catch them off guard and kill them without hesitation making my words persuasive enough to her.
“Are you capable of killing someone?”
“Undoubtedly.”
Dino, who had been silently listening to our exchange until then, looked at me with suspicious eyes. But more than suspicious, he had a wicked smile on his face, as if he had already imagined Master suffering as he manipulated her disciple, a child, failing and being cruelly killed.
But I would not die. I would not let my master die. For that, I was ready to kill anyone, even those who had nothing to do with me.
“Then I will leave it to you, my dear junior. However, first, I would like you to kill one person, for that, I will put you to the test.”
“If he’s my enemy, I’ll kill him.”
Were you going to make me kill indiscriminately? When I looked at him with contempt, wondering if the assassin’s guild was making such cheap kills, Dino gave a booming smile, as if he had read my meaning.
“Rest assured. We are very selective in the targets we kill. Besides, the work we commission to our beloved master Celeshura is all about bad people. We ask you, her beloved disciple, to take care of the same kind of scum.”
“I will judge that for myself.”
People who were asked to kill by the assassin’s guild were either scum or good people. I had thought that there would be no good adventurers, but I guess that means my master did not accept such a request from the beginning.
“Well, here you are, then. Please come there a day before the event starts. Then, my beloved master Celeshura, I will see you again.”
Dino wrote a brief location, date, and time on a piece of paper that he would use for a memo, handed it to me, said goodbye to the master, and left surprisingly easily.
“”…””
When Dino’s presence completely disappeared, and we were back alone, Master looked at me with a complicated face.
Master was a good-natured and a sweet person. Even though she understood that I was better suited for this job than she was, she regretted admitting, even for a moment, that she was sending a child to her death.
But I didn’t have a shred of intention to go to my death. So, I was not shaken even a bit.
I just stared straight back at her, with no concern, with no regret, and with no anxiety. In the end, the master let out a sigh as if she had given up and went straight into her own room.
“…”
It’s just as well, because I didn’t want to have to rehash the story now.
I also returned to my room, changed into the top and bottom traveling clothes I had worn at first, and packed the poisons I had made into a bag along with the knives I had on hand and the newly made pendulums.
It was almost evening, but there was no need to wait until dinner time. Being a vagabond for quite some time, I was always ready to fight, so it didn’t take me long to get ready.
When I left the room with my luggage, my master, who was supposed to be in her room, was waiting for me at the living room table.
“You, an unsociable disciple. Come with me for a moment.”
“Okay.”
I arrived at the table with some caution, and after letting out another deep sigh, she laid out a few things on the table.
“I won’t stop you now. You are not a child to be sheltered. From now on, I will respect your will as Another Person, Aria.”
What she told me was about herself.
It seemed that the master was born in a good family, even among the demon tribe.
Dark elves, like forest elves, have a long life span, but because of this, many of them were said to be lazy. Among such dark elves, the master trained hard in magic from an early age and became a sorcerer feared even by the demon tribe.
It seemed that the master, who had been killing those she did not even know the face of in the war against humanity, suddenly realized on the battlefield more than a hundred years ago that she had nothing.
There was no fear of losing because there was nothing important. The master, who understood this by knowing the [fear] of those she had killed until now, so she faked her death on the battlefield as it was and left the demon tribe.
Even so, as a demon master, she was not accepted by other races. Therefore, she decided to live mixed in the [underworld], which was a meritocracy and did not care about what race you were from.
One of them was the assassin’s guild, and in the past, she had taught magic to Dino, the son of the chief of the northern frontier district.
“Look, this is important, so listen carefully. The reason I can no longer fight properly is not only because I have been fighting for so long. It’s because of this place.”
Master poked at her heart with fingertips.
Master had four magical attributes. Generally speaking, the more attributes you had, the better you were, but if you look at history, most heroes like that wouldn’t live long.
The master said that heroes did not die because someone killed them for being a hero, but because of the magic stone produced in their hearts.
Two attributes were not a problem. However, a hero who was so talented that he had all attributes would not be able to live long because of the magical stone that had grown because of his talent.
As I recalled, Elena also had four attributes, and she said that her body was destroyed by the strong magic. But if what my master had said was true, then perhaps her young heart could not endure the enlarged magic stone?
Previously, I believed that the rapid growth of the body was caused by an increase in magical power, and as a side effect, it reduced the burden on the heart, which pumped magic power along with blood. However, it was actually the other way around.
I heard that a child with about four attributes could live a full lifespan if he or she did not overdo it, but there were families of magicians who gave their children many attributes, knowing that they would die prematurely if they grew beyond that.
In the same way, the [blessings] that could be obtained in dungeons and such were said to greatly reduce one’s lifespan if used, and I was told that if I had the chance to obtain one, I should never touch it.
I guessed all good deals had a backstory after all…
And a parting gift.
The gift she gave me as a parting gift was a piece of equipment she had used in the past.
The cloth ones had been ruined after a hundred years, but the short boots made of demon leather had regained their luster with just a wipe from a wet cloth.
“They’re a little big for you now, but you’ll have to put up with them. This one is made from the skin of a monster called Night stalker, so it has excellent sound absorption properties. And the leather of higher level demons will gradually regenerate with moisture and the user’s magical power, even if it is slightly scratched. See, even the soles of the shoes regenerate, right?”
Not only that, but the boots had several gimmicks built into them that could be useful in close combat.
There was also a left-handed cuirass with magical steel inside, a crossbow with a range of only 5 meters but enough to hide in the palm of one’s hand, and a magic steel that the master had made for herself. She also gave me a potion and deadly poison that she had prepared, along with a demon leather pouch that she had used in the past.
“You must survive and find the important things that you would want to cherish, you unsociable disciple.” That’s what she told me.
“Yes, Master.”
***
(Subject, confirmed)
In the woods away from Celeshura’s forest hideout, a young man recognized a child leaving his house and looked at him.
The young man was a watchman of the Assassin’s Guild, and although his combat power was low at about Rank 2, his 3-Level Detection skill and 2-Level Farsightedness skill made him a suitable candidate to monitor the target.
His surveillance mission was to watch Celeshura and her disciples to see if they escaped.
The main reason was to watch for any strange behavior of Celeshura’s disciple, who had accepted the job.
From the start, Dino did not trust Celeshura or her disciple, he did not believe Celeshura would be hostile. But he thought it was possible that he could kidnap her disciple.
(…what? )
The child who had left the house had unexpectedly disappeared, the watchman’s Level 3 Detection skill had vaguely detected the child’s presence, but the young man’s surveillance was his main strength but it only worked when combined with the Farsightedness skill, so accuracy was reduced when the figure was out of sight.
The child came toward the direction where the youth was, not along the animal trail leading to the human village.
Could it be that he had found out? The appearance of Dino might have alerted them, but it would be difficult to find the young man hidden in the woods with “normal” detection.
The child’s presence veered off to the side and passed by the young man 30 meters away, and the blade on the end of the string sliced through the neck of the young man, who was relieved that it was just his imagination.
“Gah!”
The young man, who had fallen from the tree to his death, saw a cold-eyed child in his eyes.
Why was she here? What was that presence he had felt a moment ago? Without answering the young man’s question, the child had slit his throat mercilessly and muttered in a cold voice after confirming his death.
“You have become my enemy.”
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