Slime Reincarnation

"What is going on here!"

In a room governed only by the faint flicker of a few candles, a man’s furious voice echoed out.

"Wasn’t it you yourself who said we should eliminate that man before he ever reached the capital, because he was too dangerous! And every single attempt has failed!"

His anger showed no sign of easing, hurled at the man in the green robe standing before him. The robed man remained utterly still, unmoved.

"I hear every monster you unleashed or provoked along his way was crushed without exception! And in Barlain, he’s being treated as some kind of hero because of it! Are you mocking me?"

"I’m not mocking anyone, really... it’s just that his tamed creature, that wolf fang, is completely off the charts. It’s supposed to be a C rank monster, but it’s some kind of anomaly, a mutation, or something like that..."

"Spare me the excuses! Do you have any idea how much that black crystal I prepared for you cost, just so you could use monsters to throw the capital into chaos!"

"Well, you’d have to ask about that... I’m not exactly good with money."

"On top of that, you failed the attack on Marquis Kirue as well!"

"That one’s on whoever was leading the execution team, not me."

"Silence!"

The man hurled the wine glass he’d been drinking from at the robed man. But the robed man simply sidestepped it with ease, and it struck the wall behind him, shattering with a dry crack.

"Don’t tell me the royal family assassination failed as well!"

"The poisoning of the queen seems to have failed. But the real target, the second princess, that’s being handled by that man, so I imagine that one’s a sure thing. Just as the duke hoped, I’d think."

The room’s tension eased slightly, as if the man had finally imagined an outcome aligned with his intentions. But then,

"This is urgent! Lord Beltree has returned, badly wounded!"

"What did you say!"

"Impossible... the strongest killer, Beltree, badly wounded!? The second princess, Cassina, shouldn’t have had any serious protection..."

The robed man couldn’t believe it. This killer, Beltree, was the worst kind, someone who took genuine pleasure in the act of killing itself. He considered it the height of enjoyment to violate a woman before brutally murdering her, making him an extremely dangerous and difficult figure to work with even from the client’s side. And yet his killing technique was unmatched, without a single failure to his name. For that same Beltree to fail an assassination and come back badly wounded, it was hard to believe at first.

The killer Beltree lay stretched out on the living room sofa.

"Hurry up and bring me a potion already! It hurts like hell!"

"Hey, you’ve never failed a job before. What exactly happened to you?"

The robed man asked, eyeing the killer Beltree with suspicion, as the man carried on almost like a spoiled child throwing a tantrum.

"I don’t get it! Some crazy bastard calling himself Dark Knight got in my way! That guy’s got some insane power!"

"Dark Knight? Never heard of him."

"Yeah, never seen the guy before. Black robe, silver mask, the whole deal."

"A black robe... no, it couldn’t be."

"You got a lead on this or something?"

The killer Beltree asked, noticing the green robed man had fallen deep in thought.

"...No, it’s probably not him."

"Anyway, hurry up with that potion! I can’t use healing magic on myself, you know."

"...You’ve got some nerve, acting like this after failing a job. Potions aren’t free, you know."

"Shut up! Hurry up and give it to me! Once I’m healed up I’ll go kill him myself!"

"...Ah, seems like you’re seriously misunderstanding your position here. Want me to have you eaten head first, just once?"

"Ah... no, sorry, guess the pain was messing with my head..."

"Whatever. Either way, the real target is the adventurer coming for his audience with the king, two days from now. No matter how impressive his tamed creature is, there’s no way he’d be allowed to bring it into the royal castle. His own personal ability shouldn’t be anything special, we should be able to finish him off without a doubt."

"Yeah, as long as this wound heals, I’m fine."

The robed man pulled a potion from inside his robe and handed it to killer Beltree. Since both his arms appeared injured, he struggled just to receive it, so the robed man ended up opening the bottle and making him drink it himself.

Wrapped in a soft glow, his wounds began to heal.

"Phew... that helped. Ugh, I’m all worked up now. Might go blow off some steam."

The robed man grabbed the collar of killer Beltree, who now wore a savage grin.

"Do whatever you want on your own time, but if you screw up the next job, I really will kill you. Save your fun for after you’ve finished the work properly!"

The robed man spat this out. He was irritated that killer Beltree, despite possessing such extraordinary killing skill, behaved with all the maturity of an unruly child. Especially given that every single attempt to take that man down before he reached the capital had already ended in failure. No further blunders would be tolerated.

"The kill happens right before the audience. The maid guiding him has already been bribed. He’ll be led alone into a waiting room just before the audience, supposedly to check he’s not carrying any weapons. That’s where you strike."

"...Understood."

"If he’s killed right before the audience, the royal family’s disgrace will be immeasurable. Even though the plan has failed repeatedly, unrest is already swirling through the capital from monsters suddenly rampaging. Push a little further and that unease toward the royal family will only grow deeper. And that’s when the duke’s moment finally comes. So don’t you dare mess this up."

"Yeah, leave it to me. I’ll take his head off in one strike."

Killer Beltree grinned with fearless confidence.