— Tsz Tsz Tsz Tsz!
The leader of the assassins barely dodged the attack.
“!!!”
His cheek was cut, delayed by a fraction of a second.
Blood streamed down from the wound.
But the situation didn’t end there.
Thud. Thud!
The three assassins standing behind him collapsed simultaneously.
The leader’s eyes widened in shock.
Surprised?
I was also surprised by the attack I came up with.
It was the first time I had designed a long-range skill, and for it to work this well…
Could I be a genius?
With that silly thought in mind, I rushed toward the leader.
— Thud!
This time, I used the close-range skill, [Shield Bash].
“Guh!”
The leader blocked it with his dagger, but he couldn’t withstand the force of the impact and coughed up blood.
“Y-You… aren’t you supposed to be a mage?!”
“I am a mage.”
“What kind of mage does this…?!”
Why are you so confused? This is a simple and classic combat strategy.
You surprise the enemy with a long-range attack, then follow up with a main damage-dealing close-range assault.
If assassins sent to kill the emperor are this bewildered, I could probably use this tactic like a staple.
Boom!
Assassins ultimately survive on ‘unpredictability’.
Their ambush had failed, and now that I had seized the element of surprise, the tide had clearly turned in my favor.
“You b*stard…! Do you know how meticulously this plan was crafted?!”
“Oh, was your plan to weaken two barriers and break in through the window? I think even I could come up with something like that.”
From the various battles I’ve experienced since my possession, I’ve learned one thing.
The one who loses their composure first is the one who loses.
“Die!”
The leader pulled out a dagger from his leg and threw it.
Clang!
Blocking it wasn’t hard. An ambush only works if it catches someone off guard.
The tide of battle was gradually turning.
Even the knights guarding the Emperor’s quarters started actively engaging in the fight, holding their positions at the door.
Shooook!
In between my fight with the leader, I supported the knights with long-range attacks.
And finally…
— Pop!
I managed to disrupt the leader’s footing by using a dirt bump.
“Ugh!”
As he tried to break free, I morphed Ether into a snare and trapped his ankle.
“Why… why is this happening?!”
He shook his leg in panic, but it was futile.
The Ether was colorless and odorless, invisible to the naked eye.
Just then…
“Reinforcements are here!”
The off-duty knights rushed in. Among them was the captain of the royal guard.
“Are you Sir Ian Blackangers, who met the Emperor earlier today? You’ve done well. We will take it from here.”
“Thank you.”
“No, we should be the ones thanking you.”
The Knight Commander who said that quickly subdued the assassins.
No. To be exact, it would be more accurate to say that the assassins took their own lives.
Well, to be more precise, the assassins committed suicide by stabbing small pen-like objects into their thighs.
“Damn it!”
The leader I had been fighting attempted the same.
However, I immediately restrained him using a morphing technique, immobilizing him so thoroughly that he couldn’t even move his tongue.
“…!”
Looking at me so resentfully won’t help.
There’s no benefit in killing an assassin.
We need to keep him alive to figure out who sent them.
Interrogation seems to be the specialty of the Knight Commander, who was glaring with wide eyes over there.
Clunk!
The door to the Emperor’s quarters opened.
The commander and the Emperor stepped out from inside.
“Is everything settled?”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
The Emperor calmly surveyed the surroundings.
His gaze swept over the masked corpses, the bound leader, and the injured knights before finally resting on me.
“You were right. Thank you.”
“I am humbled, Your Majesty.”
“As promised, I will bestow upon you the pass. And…”
The emperor stepped into his quarters and then came back out, holding a small badge in his hand.
“I commend your efforts.”
I knelt and respectfully accepted the badge with both hands.
It wasn’t made of any extraordinary material.
Just a badge finely crafted from pure gold, platinum, and a few luxurious gemstones.
However.
—「 Title: Recipient of a Special Medal of Honor 」—
Authority increases.
Dignity increases.
Respect increases.
Those who understand the value of this badge will begin to look up to you.
——
The side effects are quite nice.
Especially when dealing with ‘important people’.
“Thank you, Your Majesty.”
With an appropriate reward in hand, only one question remains.
…Who could have sent these assassins?
The surviving masked figure was roughly dragged off to the interrogation room.
◆
At the Second Prince’s birthday banquet.
Since the events at the palace were kept secret, the celebration was still in full swing.
“I’ll step out for some fresh air.”
Silvia, who had been energetically mingling throughout the banquet, walked out to the garden to cool down.
— Click, Click.
Despite her exhaustion, her steps were filled with energy.
Her eyes sparkled with life, and a subtle smile crept up her lips.
“Whew. Finally…”
Her goal, the one she once thought she could never achieve, was now within reach.
“The Raymond Trading Company is finally within sight.”
Silvia closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
Haaa—
Memories from over a decade ago surfaced.
The scene was the guest reception room of the Laurent family.
A much younger Silvia, still cheerful in her childhood, peeked through the door of the reception room.
Through the narrow gap in the door, she saw her father kneeling before someone.
His back trembled as he pleaded incessantly.
Begging for just one chance for the sake of his family.
As her father begged, the person he was pleading with raised their head.
They smiled—a cold, terrifying smile directed at Silvia, who was peeking through the crack in the door.
Terrified by the grin, Silvia ran away.
It was after that day.
That the Laurent family began to decline.
Until they eventually rose again, Silvia knew well what they had endured at the hands of the head of the Raymond family.
That’s why Silvia had one goal.
“To become strong enough that no one I love will ever have to kneel before anyone else…”
Silvia let out a small chuckle.
She was fully aware.
That ordinary women don’t set goals like this.
But that’s who Silvia was.
A person who would lead the greatest trading company and possess a strength no one could challenge.
Strong.
Wise.
Sophisticated.
That’s the kind of person she aimed to become.
“I thought it was impossible to achieve.”
Though she had worked herself to the bone, there was always a part of her that thought so.
The Raymond Trading Company was powerful and relentless.
Compared to them, Laurent was nothing more than a small shop that could only exert influence in Lichten.
But now, she could see it.
In her mind and before her eyes, countless ways to surpass the Raymond Trading Company came to mind.
Though the odds might be slim, it was enough to give her confidence.
And this wasn’t because Silvia had done well on her own.
“…Hehe.”
As she strolled through the garden, Silvia smiled softly.
She often found herself smiling out of nowhere when she thought of that person.
It was because of that person that Silvia had made it this far.
“In some ways, it might have been fate disguised as a coincidence.”
The beginning of the school year at the academy, on a rainy day, in a damp alley.
If she hadn’t slipped there, if her clothes hadn’t been dirtied, if she hadn’t met ‘that man’ who cleaned her clothes…
She wouldn’t have made it to where she was now.
So, it was purely luck.
The luck of meeting Ian Blackangers.
— Thump. Thump. Thump.
Her heart was pounding.
At first, Silvia thought it was just a heart problem, but now she knew that this feeling was lovesickness.
She had heard it from the most renowned physician on the continent, so it had to be true.
He even told her how to cure it.
— “Confess to him, miss. Hold his hand and kiss him. That’s the best prescription.”
Silvia looked up at the sky. As she gazed at the moon, obscured by clouds, she imagined the prescription.
Holding hands.
— Thump. Thump.
And… kissing.
— Thud! Thud! Thud!
Her heart raced as if it was about to burst.
“That doctor really is a quack…”
What was his name again?
Hoa Ta or something?
A doctor renowned in history?
Yeah, right.
Pouting her lips, Silvia tried to calm her racing heart.
But of course, her thoughts drifted back to Ian.
Whenever she received his timely assistance, Silvia found herself unknowingly letting go of the tight tension she always carried.
‘If it’s Ian… it might be okay.’
That’s what she thought.
Their relationship had begun the day he cleaned her mud-soaked clothes.
Since then, that encounter had grown into the most precious, irreplaceable bond in Silvia’s life.
“Whew.”
Silvia used the thought of Ian to calm her racing heart.
Then, she glanced down at herself.
Her dress was a sheer, elegant design that barely hinted at her silhouette.
Her hair and nails were meticulously done.
She caught a glimpse of her reflection, admiring the effort she had put into preparing for this social event.
“Surely, Ian won’t be able to endure today, right?”
She placed her hand on her chest, feeling its soft contours.
“… This might be a bit of a disadvantage.”
But she had confidence in the rest of her appearance.
At that moment—
— Footsteps!
She heard someone approaching on a nearby path.
Peeking out, she saw a servant hurrying along.
The servants in the royal palace never moved in haste.
Their job was to exist without being noticed, blending into the background.
This meant one of two things.
Either this person was someone else disguised as a servant.
Or there was truly an urgent matter.
‘… This is suspicious.’
The servant glanced around nervously, as though hiding something.
Silvia carefully followed him.
He stopped at a gazebo in the garden.
A woman turned to face him, as if she had been waiting.
The silhouette was familiar.
Narrowing her eyes, Silvia tried to get a better look at the woman hidden in the shadows.
‘… Emilia?’
Why was Emilia here?
The servant mumbled something in a voice too quiet to hear, and though Silvia couldn’t see Emilia’s face, her trembling arms gave away her agitation.
But that wasn’t the only strange thing.
— Step.
The Second Prince joined them.
The servant whispered something to him as well.
— Slap!
The servant received a harsh slap across the face.
“… I’m sorry. I apologize.”
The servant’s muffled voice reached Silvia’s ears.
When the prince waved him away, the servant disappeared into the shadows.
‘… What in the world is happening?’
There were so many unknowns.
One thing was certain, though—something bad was going on between them, and Emilia and the prince seemed unusually close.
Just then—
“!!!”
The silhouettes of the prince and Emilia overlapped, as if they were kissing.
— Rustle.
Startled, Silvia unintentionally made a sound by stepping on some leaves.
