༺ Ring (1) ༻
Bail of the Four Leaves was an assassin proudly affiliated with Vagabond.
He was well-known for his high speed swordsmanship, a product from his four-swords style. In addition to the double blades he wielded, he had another two that he controlled through telekinesis.
It was said that he could turn his opponents to minced meat with ease by using his dazzling and swift attacks, which possessed four times more trajectories than your average swordsmen.
“…”
And now, those very swords had all been shattered.
Bail looked at his beloved swords with a blank look.
As he traversed countless battlefields, he had become worthy of being called a veteran in his own right and they had been the reliable companions that had been by his side the entire time. They were excellent blades that would receive respect anywhere he went.
But, someone had obliterated those very swords with only their ‘bare hands’, as if they were nothing but toys.
“Mm.”
Eleanor nodded as she looked down at her own hands, clenching and unclenching them nonchalantly.
After wearing a pair of gauntlets, she somehow ‘caught and destroyed’ the sword strike that Bail put all his power and magic into.
“…”
‘How could this even happen?’
Although he had heard the rumors that Lady Tristan was someone with extraordinary skills for her age, this was not something that could be explained by just that much.
After all, what she had done would only be possible if they had at the very least two or three level differences.
“…Ridiculous.”
He spoke such words with a groan.
“I’ve often heard stories that even at a young age, you demonstrated martial prowess that were almost miraculous, but it seems the title of a genius isn’t enough to describe someone like you.”
The remains of his comrades, who had been mobilized for this ‘surprise attack’, were scattered around.
Their bodies were in grotesque states; some had their corpses exploded in certain areas, some had their limbs ripped off.
All of this was caused by a woman who hadn’t even drawn her sword.
“So, how did you find out about this place, Lady?”
They had surely maintained strict control over information about themselves, so how did she manage to find them all the way here and carry out such acts?
“I just happened to find some people whose target overlapped with mine.”
Eleanor responded to Bail’s question while wiping the blood off her cheek.
“An overlapping target?”
“Recently, I felt like Dowd has been avoiding me. So, I decided to follow him around.”
“…”
“As I did, I found quite a few people doing the same thing as me.”
‘If he was avoiding her, wouldn’t there be a reason for it?’
Usually, in such a case, one would at least try to understand the other’s sentiments and give them space. How in the world did she unhesitatingly come up with the option to follow him?
As an incredulous Bail fell into silence, Eleanor shrugged her shoulders before continuing.
“So I investigated the matter a little.”
The next moment…
Before Bail could even react, Eleanor approached him and gripped his arm.
“…!”
Without even a chance to scream in pain, his body rose into the air. Then, it was fully swung to the opposite side, slammed back into the ground.
The area of the arm she held was torn apart, as if it had gone through a crusher, his internal organs were deformed when slamming into the ground, a few of his ribs were fractured, and his paralyzed spine was followed by a concussion.
In less than a second, a person with formidable strength had suffered multiple fatal injuries.
At that moment, Bail seriously pondered the sentence he had thought of earlier.
‘A genius who didn’t seem her age, my ass.’
‘…She’s just a monster…!’
This undaunted power surpassed her capability that he had heard beforehand. It was as if she had explosively gained strength in a short period of time due to some incident.
She had to at least have the specs of Margrave Kendride, who was no different from a human tank.
Moreover, Lady Tristan was the successor of a ‘swordsmanship noble household’, not someone who specialized in Unarmed Combat like that man!
“I found that most of my questions would be answered if I were to do this first”
“…”
He very much understood how she managed to gather an abundance of information about them.
Facing such a monster, no matter how much resistance one put up, the outcome was inevitable; they would lose their life.
Even though they were fellow assassins, it was ultimately a business relationship. Most of them were individuals who prized their life above all others.
However…
“…So, did you kill everyone?”
“Why would I not kill them when they were trying to kill Dowd?”
The tone of her voice was so even and nonchalant, almost as if she was flatly stating that the world became brighter when the sun rose.
It also felt like she found it ridiculous that such an obvious question was asked.
“…”
Of course that was the case.
The atmosphere emanating from this woman made it clear that any negotiation would be futile.
She seemed like someone whose very nature was utterly twisted. Almost as if she had designated that man to be the center of her world.
If so, It was clear that Bail would meet his end here.
“…I didn’t expect to die like this in vain, even though I have children and a wife.”
He murmured bitterly before closing his eyes quietly.
Given the nature of his work, he was always in danger of losing his life anyway. He had always been prepared to die.
As such…
“…?”
When he couldn’t feel any impact for a while, he became bewildered.
As he slightly opened his eyes, he saw Eleanor stroking her chin, lost in thought.
“…”
“…”
“…What’s wrong?”
As Bail spoke, unable to endure the long silence any longer, Eleanor responded while nodding.
“Are you married?”
“…”
What kind of question was that?
As Bail just quietly stared at her, at a loss for words, Eleanor tilted her head.
“Are you not? Then, forget about it.”
With that, she slowly raised her leg. It was clear that she was about to stomp on his head.
“…Yes, I’m married. I said I’m married, okay?!”
He didn’t know why, but he realized that this part of him was crucial to his continued survival, so he spouted those words in panic.
After hearing his answer, Eleanor let out a ‘Hm,’ before lowering back her leg.
“Then I need to ask you something. Who proposed first?”
“…”
Calling her crazy didn’t do her justice; There was no doubt that she was a fucking psycho.
As Bail genuinely pondered such thoughts, Eleanor tilted her head and raised her leg once again.
“It’s fine if you don’t want to answer.”
“…My wife proposed first.”
She slowly lowered her leg again.
“Good. Elaborate then.”
“Elaborate?”
“Tell me more about things like development or progress behind it. Did you accept her proposal as soon as you heard it?”
“…”
Bail let out a deep breath.
Putting aside the pain that was coursing through his entire body, he had to calm the dizziness that hit him because of the conversation itself.
He decided to respond before anything.
“No, I rejected it.”
“The reason?”
“Working as an assassin is an incomparably dangerous job. I couldn’t make a woman who loved someone like me a widow. I thought that was how I should treat her because of how precious she was to me.”
For a brief moment, Eleanor stroked her chin.
‘Is that so?’
‘That man could be in that category.’
After all, she had always felt like he was taking things on without telling her.
If she became distracted even a little, the next thing she knew, he was swept up in some new threat elsewhere. Just look at how all these assassins targeting him popped out of nowhere.
As such, she should judge that he wasn’t running away from her because he disliked her, but because he was trying to look out for her.
It wasn’t because he knew she was preparing something, but because he couldn’t help but avoid her due to the timing.
“…”
No, to be more precise…
She didn’t think she could endure it if she didn’t think that way.
The reason why she went around killing these assassins wasn’t just to let out her anger.
If that man actually rejected the ‘ring’ she dearly carried with her…
“…Heup.”
Bail inhaled deeply as he looked up at Eleanor.
It was because he saw the dense fog of killing aura pouring out of her body and encompassing the surrounding space.
It was to the extent that it would’ve been better to just talk about the mind-numbing and insane topic that they were discussing earlier.
“…But, why are you curious about such things?”
“…”
Eleanor snapped back to her senses and looked down at Bail.
“I want some advice.”
“Advice?”
“About the situation, dialogue, or overall atmosphere. What moved your heart?”
“…”
Bail pondered desperately.
After all, he sensed that he had to give an extraordinarily excellent answer at this very moment.
“…The wildness? How raw her feelings were? At least that was how my wife was.”
“What does that mean?”
“Putting aside whether I would die or not after getting married, she proposed with an attitude that either I married her now or one of us would die right then and there.”
“…”
After a moment of silence, Eleanor nodded.
It seemed she was quite pleased with what she heard.
“Thanks for the advice. I’ll try it as it is.”
“…”
Following that statement, Bail’s expression turned pale when he saw Eleanor not just lifting her leg, but actually drawing her sword.
“…Wait. I responded well to everything you asked so far.”
“Do not worry. I have no intention of killing you in acknowledgement of that.”
“…”
Then what in the world was this?
“I’m threatening you. I can’t just let you go when you tried to kill Dowd, right?
“…”
“I’ll make a few proposals that you cannot refuse, so listen and decide. Will you die or will you obey?”
Eleanor continued in an even tone.
“First of all, start off with spilling everything about the client’s identity and any related information regarding them. Understood?”
“…”
Suddenly, Bail realized this truth.
Perhaps it was better to just die instead.
“Ah, I’ll at least make a promise to you.”
Eleanor suddenly played with the ring in her hands as she sighed.
“If it ‘succeeds’, I’ll make sure to return the favor in some way.”
“…Succeed? When are you planning to make your attempt?”
Eleanor stroked her chin for a moment, lost in thought.
She had received some good advice; there was no reason to delay.
If so…
“Today.”
Regardless of what it was, big issues should be resolved quickly.
You can rate/review this series here.
