Chapter 27

It was just Through who attacked me.

He was fast, considering his age. But that was only compared to most people.

I gripped my sword and whipped it horizontally.

My counter landed as he closed in, and blood began to drip from Through’s right arm.

It looked decently deep.

Huh? He was surprisingly weak.

I was sure he would have blocked or dodged the attack. But it just went right into him.

“Agh…!”

His enraged expression did not look like an act.

“Are you really that weak?”

I muttered audibly. Through’s face contorted even more.

“I am a magician. Close-quarters combat is not my expertise.”

He said as he backed away. Then he and Double glanced at each other, and then they both dove out of the window.

“…Well, well. What is going on here?”

Yes, he may have been a magician. But he was too weak, considering he was the one who attacked first.

Was he having a bad day?

Regardless, I was not about to let them escape.

And so I melted into the shadows once again.

○

“While we were two against one, we would have lost if we kept fighting.”

“I underestimated him because he was so young. So that is the strength of a Ryukoku assassin.”

Through and Double had escaped to a corner where the poor citizens lived. It was on the outskirts of the commercial district.

Through was carefully wiping the blood that ran from his arm so he could cover it.

I watched them quietly, but had to hold back the urge to protest.

Yes, I had been trained by my father to become an assassin.

Some of that training was so brutal that I nearly gave up.

Sometimes it wasn’t even a matter of living or dying. I was put in environments where it seemed like I had no course left to me but death.

There were many times that I felt I had only survived due to luck.

That was my life up until now.

And so their conversation seemed very odd to me.

What kind of soft people were they?

“…! He’s right there!”

Damn, he found me.

I was hiding in the shadows, and yet he still knew exactly where I was. It clearly wasn’t instinct.

“I suppose I should expect nothing less of you, Through.”

I said as I showed myself.

It must have been Through’s magic that allowed him to see me.

“So, you can use magic as well!”

The younger one shouted. It was Double.

“Yeah. It’s not like only people from Makoku can use magic.”

Though, in my case, my father was from Makoku and could use magic, so the potential was high. Not that this was something they needed to know.

“Tsk. Let’s go!”

Double nodded at Through’s words.

But I had no intention of allowing that.

And so I scattered pebbles at their feet.

These were the brutal kind, as they were covered in thin needles. They would hurt if you stepped on them.

Not only that, but they were hooked, meaning you couldn’t pull them out easily.

They could be thrown or scattered, it didn’t matter.

Of course, this time, I was just using them as a distraction.

While Through and Double looked at the floor, I scattered more of them.

People tended to be slower at reacting to things that didn’t hurt them immediately.

‘What is this?’ They couldn’t help but stop and wonder.

But now there were hundreds on the floor around their feet.

And so I was able to stop them from moving.

It was something I often did when fighting.

“So, have you finished your prayers?”

Slowly, I sunk just my right hand into the shadows.

“Wha…?!”

As Through watched, a sword suddenly sprouted from his chest.

It was the sword I was holding, and it had emerged from a different shadow.

He coughed up a torrent of blood and his eyes bulged in surprise as he looked at me.

Of course, I would show no mercy.

The blade rotated, opening the wound even further. Then I pulled my right hand out.

“Through!”

Double shouted. I intended for him to follow his friend very soon.

He had seen my ‘Shadow Sword.’ And so he could not be allowed to live.

It was my means of living, after all.

“Gaaagghh!”

And so a blade sprouted from Double as well. He clawed at his chest with an expression of agony.

“It’s finished.”

I pulled out the sword and Double fell to his knees.

A pool of blood formed on the ground, and he sunk into it.

His body convulsed for a second but quickly stopped.

“…Phew. That’s it, huh?”

Magicians from Makoku.

I had been curious to see what they were like. It turned out they relied entirely on magic.

“Still, who was it again? One of the Right Hands had been defeated.”

Originally, three of them had been sent to kill Through.

But they were unable to find him, and when they had scattered, one of them was taken by surprise.

“Either they were unlucky or their guard was down.”

Still, to let your guard down when chasing an enemy. Such a person wasn’t a second-rate, but a third-rate Shadow.

I had heard that the Royal Capital was filled with the best Shadows, but that was clearly wrong.

“…Oh, what-what. It’s finished already?”

I was just thinking about calling in some Left Feet to clean up the bodies, when someone else appeared.

“Uh, who are you?”

There were two of them. They wore black just like me. They were probably the Queen’s Shadows.

But there was something hostile about their gaze.

“I am Foul Eater. Surely you’ve heard of me?”

“And they call me Thousand Needles.”

Ah, these troublesome people.

So, they came here to criticize me. Had they been watching all along?

I hadn’t sensed anything.

Well, how should I go about killing them? But then again, Shadows were supposed to avoid fighting each other.

I looked up at the sky.