Chapter 150: Domain of the Evil God (3)
“Boss.”
Henggloss, a mercenary guild that hid behind the scenes of the island.
They were famous for taking on all kinds of dirty jobs on the island, and doing whatever they were asked as long as they were paid.
Of course, even Henggloss had some jobs that they preferred to avoid.
Anything related to the high nobility or the royal family was one of them.
As I listened to the boss report on the operation, I, Effe, an assassin of Henggloss, opened my mouth.
“Kidnap the prince? Are you crazy, boss?”
“Shh. It’s not the prince, it’s a woman he’s carrying around.”
“So what? That’s okay?”
It was wise not to meddle in anything involving the royal family.
Henggloss had survived until now by following that simple principle.
But today, the boss seemed to be stepping on the thin line.
I felt a chill of uneasiness as I quietly heard about the plan.
The boss seemed to understand my anxiety and added some more explanation to the other members.
“The second prince is weaker than the other princes.”
“I know he’s a fool, but still…”
“Besides, it’s not even the prince himself, but some unknown woman he’s carrying around. It won’t be easy for them to move around in the palace.”
Huff.
A deep sigh escaped from Effe’s mouth.
The success rate of this operation was not the important thing.
No matter how he thought about it, getting involved with the palace was a crazy thing to do.
The wise thing to do was to quickly drop the matter and bow down low if it had anything to do with the palace.
“And if we pull this off successfully… we’ll get a hefty amount of money.”
But the captain in front of him didn’t seem to have any intention of giving up.
It was never a good thing to be greedy.
The captain always said that, but for some reason, he looked different today.
Effe tried to say one more thing to the captain.
“Captain, I think we should reconsider this.”
“Effe. Don’t talk nonsense.”
“Captain…”
The captain had already been blinded by gold and didn’t seem to have any interest in listening.
“Do you know how much money is on the line for this?”
“Money is not the important thing.”
“No. Money is the most important thing for mercenaries. Even if we take the risk, there’s no other job that pays this well. We’re going ahead with this operation no matter what.”
“Captain…”
“Effe. If you don’t want to join this operation, you can leave.”
The eyes of the organization members all turned to Effe.
He could only scratch his head with a troubled expression.
It was a foolish act, no matter how I looked at it.
But I didn’t feel like leaving the captain alone and moving on, when he was drunk on gold.
And I had a reason for that. The captain in front of me was like half of my life.
“How can I leave the captain and go by myself?”
“Right. Effe, I knew you would say that.”
“I can’t stop the captain from going ahead with this, but let’s be careful as much as possible.”
“I don’t need you to tell me that.”
I looked at the captain with a satisfied face, as he continued to explain the plan.
It would be a happy ending for everyone if we succeeded in the operation without any problems.
But if something went wrong.
If that situation came, I had to save the captain at all costs.
Effe’s eyes were filled with firm determination.
* * * * * *
The noble district of the deserted island.
Effe and the members of Henggloss’ organization were following behind the prince who was returning to his mansion.
The prince looked happy, as if he had drunk a lot of alcohol.
Next to him were a knight with a sword and the target, who was walking with a hood over her head.
Thud. Thud.
The captain, who was watching the prince walk with his footsteps echoing, opened his mouth in a low voice.
“Slowly. Follow them quietly. Five of you, go around and approach them from behind.”
Nod.
Some of the members who received the captain’s order started to move towards the target.
Effe watched their movement and turned his eyes to the front again.
The prince’s group, who had been walking towards the mansion, had stopped in their place.
Effe felt his hair stand on end at the sight of the prince who suddenly stopped.
“What’s wrong?”
The prince turned his head to the girl who wore her robe backwards.
As the prince stopped walking, the escort knight also stopped in his place.
Did the prince notice their presence?
As Effe worried about that, the girl who followed behind the prince answered him.
“You can go back first today.”
“Suddenly?”
“Yes. I have something to do.”
The prince looked puzzled at her answer.
Effe, who was eavesdropping on their conversation, felt the same way.
“Isn’t it too dangerous to move alone at night?”
“It’s okay. Nothing will happen today, even if I move by myself.”
“If you say so… I guess I have no choice.”
“Yes. So please go ahead and rest.”
The girl kept trying to send him away, and the prince reluctantly agreed.
As the prince started to go back, the escort knight followed him.
The girl was left alone as the two left.
More importantly, the escort knight, who could have been the biggest obstacle to the plan, was gone.
It was easier for Henggloss.
Effe felt a surge of joy in his heart as he looked at the girl who was left alone.
‘Maybe I can handle this quietly.’
The opponent was just a woman without a weapon.
On the other hand, they had brought famous mercenaries and a mage.
Anyone could see that Henggloss had the advantage.
But the girl seemed to have no idea what would happen to her, and she started to walk towards the alley where they were hiding.
She was walking right into the mouth of the beasts that were waiting for her.
“Hide.”
The captain ordered his men as he saw the girl approaching with her footsteps.
As soon as the captain’s gesture fell, they all hid in the cracks of the alley.
Except for Effe, who was watching everything from the roof.
Effe drew his sharp dagger and waited for the girl to come closer.
‘It was a request to bring her alive, so it would be bad if I killed her… But it should be fine as long as she doesn’t die.’
The order from the client was only to capture and imprison the girl.
He had to aim only for non-lethal spots when he swung his dagger.
“……”
In the situation where everyone was hiding in the alley, the girl’s calm footsteps reached deep into the alley.
Four steps. Three steps. Two steps.
The girl’s footsteps steadily approached where the captain was hiding.
As she took the last step towards the captain.
The captain jumped out of the alley and pointed his knife at her neck.
“Don’t move or you’ll die.”
“……”
“You’ll die if you try anything stupid.”
The captain was known among the mercenaries in the back alley for his skill with the sword.
The girl had no chance to react to his sudden attack.
Even with a sharp knife pointed at her, she remained calm.
Her face was hidden by a black hood, and I couldn’t tell what expression she was making.
“Are you the ones who have been following us?”
“Yes. If you want to live, you better come with me.”
The finely sharpened blade moved closer to her neck.
It was a situation where the knife could pierce her skin if he pushed it a little further.
She should have been scared by the sharpness of the knife, but she didn’t show any reaction.
Instead, she kept a calm attitude and said something strange.
“It might be a good idea to try it for the first time.”
The captain made a disgusted face at her weird answer.
It was an incomprehensible story.
What did she mean by trying something in this place? What was she going to try?
As they wondered about that, she brought her hands together neatly.
Clap.
Two white palms met in the air.
At the same time, she seemed to be talking to someone.
“——Revere. Worship. Bow down.”
“Who are you talking to…”
But the captain’s words, mixed with doubt, were cut off.
The moment he came to his senses, an unfathomable darkness engulfed them.
A huge darkness.
In the world of shadows, she moved her hand leisurely.
The captain swung his sword in a hurry at her suspicious movement.
“What are you doing!”
Clang!
The captain’s sword, swung fiercely, stopped in midair.
The sword, glowing with light, was held by her hand.
It was an attack that would have cut off her hand if she had faced it barehanded.
But she grabbed his sword with her hand wrapped in shadows.
“You blocked this attack…”
The captain put more strength into his grip, but the sword that stopped in midair didn’t budge.
She calmly held the sword and raised her other hand in the air.
The world of shadows that filled the surroundings swayed with her movement.
At this moment, it was clear who was ruling this world.
In the darkness that covered the world, Effe jumped down with his dagger aimed at her.
“Captain…”
He had a bad feeling.
Effe’s intuition was ringing an alarm.
The girl in front of him was a monster without a doubt.
He had to deal with her before something bigger happened.
He cast a magic on his dagger that he held in his hand to imbue it with poison.
‘Enchant.’
While the captain was hesitating with his sword, her other hand kept rising up.
She raised her hand high and straightened one finger between her clenched fist.
She pointed at them with her thin finger tip.
Right after that, a gentle voice echoed from under her hood.
“Sanctuary Declaration—— Logration.”
Sanctuary Declaration.
It was a story they would never hear in their lives as they roamed the back alley.
It was the same for Effe, who was recognized as a skilled assassin.
He felt his magic that wrapped around his sword scatter.
The magic that would kill the opponent he stabbed was being dispersed by something.
Thud.
Effe, who was about to jump down at her, kicked the wall and retreated a step back.
“W-what is this…”
His magic scattered faster than it gathered.
I could still use magic somehow, but I would have to pour out more than twice as much as usual.
And even then, the magic wouldn’t be perfect.
But that wasn’t the only problem.
A huge sense of exhaustion lingered in my body, and I felt my strength slowly draining away.
Effe’s face hardened as he looked at the girl in front of him.
A way to suppress someone else’s magic.
Effe knew a lot about all kinds of vile methods, but he had never heard of such a thing.
“You’re lucky. You would have died if you had come a little closer.”
Between Effe and the girl who sat down, there was a black thorn sticking out.
She was right.
If Effe had been a little slower to react, he would have been skewered by the shadow’s thorn.
Effe straightened his posture and raised his dagger, ready for battle.
From his mouth, a question about the girl flowed out.
“Who are you…?”
“Are you curious?”
The girl reached out and pulled back her hood at Effe’s question.
Beyond the black hood that fell, her ash-colored hair spread out in all directions.
She stood alone in the world of blackness, like a witch from a legend.
She smiled at them and opened her mouth.
“It’s a secret.”
