Chapter 21
Chapter 21
The thick stench of blood hung in the air, and beneath those collapsed and clogging the entrance, blood pooled heavily into puddles.
“Wh-what happened······.”
Just as the last assassin’s breath was cut off, someone poked his face in from outside the door.
“Hmm?”
The man who showed his face was a familiar one. I was sure his friends called him Charles. He froze as he stared inside.
The fact that he didn’t scream or run away suggested he had some nerve, but judging by how pale his face had gone, that didn’t seem to be the case.
“Hey.”
“…Y-yes?”
As if he were seeing a scene like this for the first time, he answered my call with a dazed expression.
“Whether it’s the manager or whoever, report this to the higher-ups. And until I get back, clean all of this up.”
His mouth hung open as if he’d lost his grip on reality, but when I glared at him slightly, he nodded like a madman. I then turned my gaze to the shattered window.
“Then.”
The Sword Saint had hurled cold reproach at me when I hesitated before a monster’s offspring. Whether they were small or large, young or old, an enemy was still an enemy.
If you showed mercy out of half-baked sympathy, it would someday become a blade and pierce straight through your neck.
Creeeak.
When I opened the window that no longer functioned properly, I saw a silhouette leaping between distant rooftops. I lightly drew in a breath and activated the mana throughout my body.
Paat-!
As I kicked off the ground, my body shot up into the air in an instant. Leaving the room, I launched an attack on the fleeing assassin’s back.
He seemed fairly skilled, darting this way and that in an attempt to shake me off, but every time I kicked off a rooftop and leapt, the distance between us visibly narrowed.
Whir.
When the distance closed to within five meters, the assassin threw himself off the roof and dropped downward.
Even then, as if he still hadn’t given up, he hurled several sharp throwing blades at me.
Thunk.
Perhaps because he was fleeing, his accuracy was abysmal. Ignoring the others, I knocked aside only the one aimed at my shoulder and then threw myself down as well.
Boom!
Despite falling from a rooftop five stories high, only a light cloud of dust and a faint tremor rose, and my legs were perfectly fine.
“······!”
With a dead-end alley at his back and me blocking the path, we faced each other. I raised my sword, aimed it at him, and spoke with thick killing intent.
“I’ll give you ten seconds. Tell me who’s behind this and I’ll spare your life. But if you show even the slightest sign of resisting or trying to run, I’ll cut you down without mercy.”
As I pressured him while flaring my presence, he staggered backward as if he’d lost all will to fight. But rather than intending to talk, his eyes darted around, searching for an escape route.
“Let’s start by showing your face.”
True to his name, the assassin was wrapped head to toe in black cloth, making it hard to identify him. If I cut off an arm or a leg and grilled him a bit, something would come out.
Tap!
I launched myself a beat faster than the assassin could move as he showed signs of running. My target was his leg. If his leg were injured, escaping would be difficult.
But this time, things didn’t go as I intended.
Chwarrk!
“······!”
At the sharp sound from behind me, I hurriedly twisted my body around. Up until just a moment ago, I’d sensed no presence in this alley besides the two of us.
‘An accomplice!’
The thought that it had been a trap flashed through my mind in an instant.
“Ghk!”
I barely dodged whatever came tearing through the air, but it instantly changed direction and aimed for the arm holding my sword.
“A whip?”
A crimson whip coiled around me. Before I could react, it bound my arm and yanked me with tremendous force.
Graaahk.
I wasn’t about to be dragged along by it. As I pushed back with equal force, noise rippled across the scenery near the alley entrance, and from empty air where nothing had been, a figure stepped out.
“To think a pervert would be running rampant in the middle of the city in broad daylight.”
The alley lay between tall buildings, casting deep shadows. Yet glossy red hair and a beauty that naturally drew admiration gazed at me with a proud expression, without the slightest flaw.
‘No way······.’
At that familiar appearance, someone came to mind.
A character ranked among the top three in popularity among the cast of the SSS-Rank Otherworld Absolute.
“Submit quietly. If you do so now, I’ll hand you over to the Imperial Capital Guard and let your crimes end there. You filthy pervert.”
One of this world’s main heroines looked at me with eyes full of contempt.
Pervert? Who?
“…Ah.”
I turned my head and looked at my own body. I’d been attacked right after a bath, while sprawled on the sofa in a robe, and
I’d chased the assassin in that very state. On top of that, I’d been running as if flying, so it was a situation too embarrassing to explain in words.
‘…What should I do.’
If there was any consolation, it was that my face probably hadn’t been seen thanks to my long hair hanging down.
I needed to meet her at the Academy and build a good relationship, but if I got branded a pervert this early, there was no way anything good would come of it.
“······!”
With the sensation that I was forgetting something, I hastily turned my head. What I saw then was an utterly empty alleyway.
‘Had he escaped.’
I clicked my tongue once inwardly and soothed my regret.
There were far too many people I could suspect as the one behind it, so I wasn’t particularly curious who it was, but if I had killed them all, it would at least have served as a warning to them.
Graaahk.
“How dare you look elsewhere while I am right here.”
Her tone was polite, but the chill contained within it became a dagger that stabbed into me.
Being glared at with such contemptuous eyes from the appearance of a beautiful young girl made a slight shiver run down my spine.
“…A young lady of Britain, is it. This is an imperial matter. Refrain from unnecessary interference.”
Her name was Elysia Pendragon Britain.
The author had said that it was taken in the same vein as bringing in Gilgamesh.
To me, it looked unmistakably like it had been taken straight out of animation.
Anyway, if one were to explain her name in the style of this world, one could say she was Elysia of the Pendragon family, who ruled the Britain territory.
“…I never thought you would know who I am.”
Elysia frowned, apparently displeased that a pervert knew her name.
At that, I briefly bit my lip and pondered.
As one of the main heroine positions, she wielded great influence over the protagonist. If I were to fall out with her in such a state, it would cause disruptions to my future plans.
‘The problem is that she doesn’t seem inclined to let me go quietly.’
Graaahk.
The force coming from the whip coiled around my arm was anything but ordinary. The Pendragon family was a renowned house of the sword.
She herself was also a master of considerable swordsmanship. After all, at the Academy, she held the position of teaching the protagonist swordsmanship.
Fortunately, I had yet to use disguise.
Before entering the Academy, imperial family members were obligated to alter their appearance.
It was a law of the imperial family passed down through generations, and no one could break it.
I too had planned to slightly change my hair color and face before entering the Academy, but because of the Sword Saint’s affair, it had been delayed until now.
‘If that’s the case.’
Once I left this place, there would be no way for her to find me.
That was why she was holding me with the whip.
Elysia peculiarly used a whip before drawing her sword, and when I later asked the reason, the author said it was simply personal preference.
She only drew her sword against opponents she acknowledged, but having been labeled a pervert, I clearly didn’t qualify.
However, given how important her role was, her weaknesses and methods of dealing with her were laid bare without reservation.
As an editor, I naturally knew all of that, but right now, I didn’t need to go that far.
Phaa-!
“Ugh?!”
An overwhelmingly fierce aura erupted from my sword, strong enough to make her unconsciously step back.
When I grasped the sword with my left hand and lightly swung it, the whip binding my right arm was shredded to pieces.
“······!”
Elysia discarded the whip in her hand and drew the sword at her waist.
Perhaps she hadn’t expected me to be this strong, because her pupils shook violently.
A deserted, dark alley. Even if one screamed, the noise of the streets would drown it out.
The opponent was a powerhouse beyond herself. An undeniable fear seeped from the tip of her blade.
Even if she was confident in her swordsmanship, it was different from the realm of the sword.
At the point of Academy admission, her level was probably top-tier Sword User, with lower Sword Expert right in front of her. She would likely make a good sparring partner for August.
However, before me, a top-tier Sword Expert, she was nothing more than a trembling, fragile lamb.
Someone on the level of her father, Arthur Pendragon Britain, would be worth fighting.
I had been slightly irritated at losing the assassin because of her and had intended to tease her a little, but seeing her tremble this much made me feel somewhat sorry. So I withdrew my momentum and lowered my sword.
“Next time, don’t step in so recklessly.”
With those words, I kicked off the ground.
As before, my body shot up in an instant, and I landed atop the roof I had fallen from earlier.
Naturally, the assassin I had been chasing was nowhere to be seen, which left me only slightly regretful.
“We will need you to cooperate with us for a moment.”
When I returned to the lodging, a large number of people greeted me.
In particular, many soldiers dressed like members of the Imperial Capital Guard were present, and a noble who appeared to be their leader stepped forward in front of me while pacing.
“Didn’t I tell you to clean this up?”
The corpses that had been collapsed at the room’s entrance were left as they were.
The spilled blood had dried and stuck to the floor, and an unpleasant stench seeped from the assassins’ bodies, stabbing at my nose.
When I frowned at the smell, the guards placed their hands on their swords.
“This is a murder case that occurred in the imperial capital. In accordance with imperial law, regardless of rank or status, you must accompany us.”
The noble spoke with a grave expression.
On his face was written the resolve that he would not hesitate to subdue me by force if I resisted.
Indeed, if I so much as tried to move, those around me looked ready to draw their swords like lightning.
Outside the door, onlookers who had gathered to see what was happening cautiously peered inside the room.
The name of the Guard must have weighed on them as well, as none entered directly, but their gazes were filled with curiosity.
“I am a Ribera.”
“······?”
I uttered only two words.
The guards surrounding me looked puzzled, as if wondering what nonsense I was spouting, but the noble standing before me stiffened completely.
“Search that backpack over there. I rushed out and couldn’t take anything with me.”
At my words, the noble hurriedly turned and rummaged through the backpack.
Clothes and daily necessities were carefully set down on the floor. Then, as if he had found something, his eyes widened.
“My apologies. I will take care of this matter personally.”
What the noble had found was the prince’s token that proved my identity.
Imperial family members stood above all laws. Therefore, it was absurd to invoke imperial law and lay hands on me.
“Keep your mouths shut. If word gets out that I’m here, you know what happens, right?”
“How could there be any doubt. However, regarding the aftermath······.”
“I’ll be staying here for three days, so if there’s a problem, come find me.”
The guards could only stare with dumbfounded expressions at their superior’s attitude, which had changed in an instant.