Bron, fallen, did not rise again.
With holes punched through his body like that, if he had gotten up, that might have been even more terrifying.
I hurried over to the collapsed Aileen.
Whether she had been hit somewhere bad or not, she was curled up, groaning for a long while.
‘Damn it, what am I supposed to do?’
“Ugh... There’s no bleeding, right? Then lay her down for now and let her calm down.”
Kane said, plopping down on the ground.
He looked terrible as well.
Thankfully, the bleeding had stopped, but one of his eyes seemed to have gone blind, and his shoulder was soaked red with blood.
“Mr. Kane... your eye...”
When I asked carefully, Kane shrugged and answered as if it were no big deal.
“My eye? Well, I’ll have to go see a priest. And there’s no need for you to feel sorry. It’s not your fault, and this was my mistake too. Besides... I came here on a request anyway.”
With practiced hands, he took out a piece of cloth and wrapped it over his eye.
After watching him quietly for a moment, I turned my gaze to Aileen.
After groaning in pain for a long while, she was finally catching her breath a little.
As carefully as I could, I laid her down in a comfortable position.
Only then was I able to let out a sigh and lean back against the wall.
‘Ugh, I’m dying...’
Fighting wasn’t exhausting only when you got hit.
Just having an enemy in front of you made you tense, as if a boulder had been placed on your shoulders, and even swinging a sword once drained your stamina away.
On top of that, fighting people came with a horrible feeling in itself.
I leaned my back against the wall and closed my eyes for a moment.
The smell of blood brushing past my nose made me frown for a second, but I quickly grew numb to it.
Maybe I’d already gotten used to it... I don’t know if that’s a good thing.
...Is this why everyone tries to avoid combat?
While I was catching my breath for a moment, Aileen fortunately managed to sit up.
As she sat there clutching her waist, pain and complicated emotions were mixed across her face.
Whether it was because of the lingering pain in her abdomen, or because of the frustration of having been unable to do anything.
Tears had gathered faintly around her eyes.
“Anyway, is this the end of what you lot came here for?”
Kane asked after seeing Aileen get up.
Right, our goal hadn’t been to wipe them all out.
We had come here to find evidence regarding the assassin targeting Aileen.
Since Bron had died, asking him directly was out of the question, but we hadn’t had the leisure for that anyway.
Just surviving was already fortunate enough.
“I think we need to search the room.”
“Yeah? Then let’s go in right away.”
With one shoulder drooping, Kane trudged into the room.
I caught my breath and followed him inside.
“Oh...”
The moment I stepped through the entrance, an exclamation slipped out on its own.
The inside of the room was unexpectedly quite luxurious.
A thick carpet, a desk made of quality wood. Several expensive-looking ornaments were placed on the walls.
No matter who looked at it, it was a space they had put quite a bit of care into.
“Wow, for such a small organization, these bastards sure decorated the place well.”
Kane said, looking around.
When I tilted my head at those words, he added,
“You didn’t know? In this city, these guys are the smallest faction.”
For a moment, I stood there blankly, unable to continue speaking.
What? There are other organizations too?
Perhaps reading my expression, Kane chuckled.
“Haha, you really didn’t know. These bastards are a crude organization made by gathering the remnants who survived after the Blood Street incident last time. Otherwise, do you think the three of us could’ve smashed them all?”
Thinking about it, these guys were just neighborhood thugs at the level of extorting the residents of the tent village.
No matter what sort of faction such people formed, its size was obvious.
It seemed I had gotten scared by the words “the city’s underworld” and overestimated them for no reason.
No wonder even their name sounded childish.
But... Kane knew about the Blood Street incident.
I quietly asked Kane about that incident.
“Of course I know. I was in the city for a request back then too.”
“Really? Then did you see that incident yourself?”
“I didn’t see all of it either.”
Kane trailed off and tilted his head slightly back.
He seemed to be recalling the memories of that day.
“I was on my way to look at some equipment. Then there was a commotion on the other side of the alley. At first, I thought it was just another fight. But you see—”
He exhaled a short breath like a sigh.
“The smell of blood was thick even from far away. It felt like I wasn’t breathing air, but inhaling blood.”
Just hearing that description sent a chill down my spine.
“I thought maybe someone had caused a serious accident, so I ran toward the scene. But the closer I got... the more pools of blood were spread out between the alleys. The walls were stained with splattered blood, and corpses were lying there butchered—”
His tone lowered for a moment.
“And in the middle of it all, there was a woman standing with a spear.”
“...Kalsia?”
“Yeah. Kalsia... that was her name. That woman’s red cloak was already soaked in blood and had turned almost black... like a butcher who had just finished slaughtering something. And yet her face was clean.”
He stopped speaking for a moment and closed his eyes, as if recalling the memory.
“But her eyes... were completely dead. Like an empty shell with no emotion in them at all.”
“An empty shell...”
“That was the first time I learned a person could give off an aura like that. Truly... it was the kind of atmosphere where anyone standing before her would feel their breath stop first.”
I looked at Kane without saying a word.
The scene he saw that day must have been something beyond a simple bloodbath.
“When I first saw a gold-plate mercenary back then, honestly, I felt like I was looking at a wall...”
“...Still, Mr. Kane, you’re going to become the same gold-plate mercenary now.”
Kane lifted one corner of his mouth and smiled.
“Heh, yeah. I have to climb up now too.”
His one remaining eye was steeped in exhaustion, but his voice alone was firm.
His staggering body, the eye wrapped in a bandage, even his injured shoulder.
Even while dragging all of that along, he had not bent in the slightest.
It had only been a few hours since we met, but I could feel well enough what kind of person he was.
“By the way, what’s your name?”
Kane asked cautiously.
Come to think of it, we still hadn’t properly introduced ourselves.
“My name is... Liv.”
“Liv, that’s a nice name. I’m Kane. You seem to be quite the amazing mage, so I’d better get on your good side.”
Kane said with a playful smile.
Honestly, it was a little scary to see him smiling and talking with a face soaked in blood.
“If you’re a mage who can use magic at that level, don’t you have some sort of affiliation?”
“No. Not particularly.”
“Yeah? Then you’re a free mage. In that case... you’d better hide it.”
That was something I had heard from Drek before too.
Hearing it again from Kane’s mouth this time made it feel oddly real.
“Is there any particular reason I have to hide it?”
“As you know, mages are valuable resources. Especially if they can use combat magic. If a mage like that is wandering around without any affiliation... don’t you think there’d be plenty of bastards drooling over you?”
His tone was light, but the meaning within it was heavy.
“But... there are already thugs who saw me use magic, and the residents too. Will hiding it now even work?”
“That’s true. Still, you should hide it as much as possible. Getting entangled with nobles is a pain.”
Kane acted indifferent, but there was a tired look on his face.
It was certainly the tone of someone who had experienced it personally.
Since I was already entangled with a noble, I could only react awkwardly.
“I found it!”
While we were focused on our conversation, Aileen, who had been rummaging around the room, found a box in the corner.
The box looked old and heavy, but it was locked.
“It’s locked.”
“Give it here.”
But we had a human key—Kane.
With practiced hands, he fiddled with the lock here and there, and with a click! he easily picked it.
“Oho.”
When Kane opened the box, there were a few silver coins and a thin bundle of documents inside.
It was far too shabby to be called treasure.
I tilted my head slightly.
In boxes like this, wasn’t it normal for at least one or two gold ingots to come out?
These guys really must have been a small and insignificant organization.
“There’s... less than I expected.”
When I muttered that, Kane laughed.
“I told you. They were bastards full of nothing but bluff.”
Aileen carefully took out the bundle of documents and unfolded it.
From the dusty paper came a mixture of moldy odor and the smell of ink.
The surface was damp, and on the topmost sheet there was a faint mark of a seal remaining.
As if a long time had passed, only the pressed trace barely remained.
“This... doesn’t seem like a simple document.”
Aileen carefully turned the pages.
The first few pages were slave trade ledgers that made one frown just by looking at them.
They meticulously recorded who was bought where, how much they were handed over for, and to whom they were sent.
Judging by how faded the paper was and how the ink had bled, these were probably not documents written by these guys, but by those who had used this room before.
However, a few relatively recent ledger pages were mixed in as well, so these guys weren’t completely unrelated.
“Ugh...”
The moment Aileen grimaced and turned a few pages, the thing we had been looking for finally revealed itself.
A single sheet of paper.
The document she carefully pulled out gave off an air at once that it was not ordinary.
The quality of the paper looked better than anything else, and a faint mana had seeped into it.
“...This is,”
I naturally approached her side and lowered my head.
“What is this paper? It feels like there’s something there.”
“Mm, I think so too. There’s definitely mana dwelling in it.”
Just as Aileen said, this was no ordinary paper.
A sheet of paper carrying an aura, as if it were an important document.
It was the first object imbued with mana I had seen since coming to this world.
We lowered our gazes at the same time.
And began to read what was written inside.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sender: Allowin Feldrick, third son of the Feldrick family
Recipient: Bron, leader of the Black Hand
Content: Upon completion of the removal of the “target” within the designated period, payment of 20 gold coins
Additional condition: Proof confirming the target’s death must be recovered and delivered to the recipient through a third-party courier.
Other conditions:
· This contract is unrelated to the official position of the Feldrick family.
· If the existence of this contract is exposed to the outside, the contract will be rendered void, and all responsibility shall lie with the recipient.
· In the event of mission failure, the existing contractual relationship will be terminated, and subsequent support will not be guaranteed.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The moment our eyes reached the final line of the contract, an energy like a small ripple flowed out from the paper.
“......!”
The mana faintly flowing between the ink marks began scattering into fine particles.
The energy enveloping the entire document quietly faded away, evaporating as if it had fulfilled its role.
Saaaaak—
And before long, the contract had become an ordinary blank sheet of paper with nothing written on it.
A rustling piece of document no different from the stained transaction ledgers.
“......What is this—”
Aileen murmured quietly.
“Tsk, it was probably set up so that the magic would activate once certain conditions were fulfilled.”
“That’s...”
A small sigh escaped me without my realizing it.
I could no longer feel any energy from the fingertips holding the contract.
The evidence had disappeared before our eyes, and now all that remained was our memory.
“...There was definitely a noble’s name on it. But the Feldrick family? Have you heard of them?”
I looked at Aileen, and she slowly shook her head.
Kane answered that question instead.
“They’re a merchant noble family famous even in Mondark. A house with a lot of influence in tax administration and internal affairs.”
“But why would they join hands with people like this...?”
Just when it seemed we had finally found a clue, there was yet another step left.
And another noble at that, which made things incredibly troublesome.
Leaning against the wall, Kane let out a hollow laugh.
“You were already tangled up with nobles?”
“......Well, by chance.”
When I scratched my head, Kane narrowed his eye.
“Allowin... Could it be that guy?”
There was a hint in his tone, as if he had recalled something.
“Do you know him?”
“I don’t know him personally, but I’ve heard some rumors. I’m not certain, but there’s talk that that noble bastard often went in and out of the workshop district.”
“The workshop district?”
“Yeah. I don’t know how it is these days, but they said he used to show his face there almost every day.”
A noble, in a place like that?
Did he have a hobby of personally commissioning equipment, or... was he ordering custom clothes?
Whatever it was, a clue was a clue.
When I had time, it seemed I would need to go there at least once.
Rattle, rattle.
Just in case, we searched the room with enough force to tear it apart, but nothing in particular came out besides the document box.
Kane shook his head, then began plucking off the expensive ornaments hanging on the wall.
“These are all money too. Take them.”
“Uh... Is it all right to just take things like this?”
They were criminals, sure, but was it okay to take their belongings as we pleased?
I wondered if things might become troublesome later if someone caught us.
Kane shrugged and said,
“Come on, finder’s keepers. That’s the rule in this neighborhood.”
His tone was so nonchalant that I ended up chuckling without realizing it.
He, too, was a mercenary after all.
I also pulled out a mercenary mindset and began looking around.
Aileen, who had been glancing around awkwardly, was soon crouching down and packing this and that away too.
Well, this much could count as compensation for self-defense.
We stuffed the things we had gathered in bundles into our bags and left the building.
The outskirts street had become completely dark before we knew it.
As we left the quiet road behind, the noisy voices of people gradually began to reach our ears.
“Shall we part ways around here?”
Kane stopped.
“You’re leaving?”
“Yeah. I have something to take care of separately too. We’ll probably meet again someday.”
Trailing off, Kane waved a hand with familiar ease and turned his back.
We watched his retreating figure for a moment.
Over his disappearing footsteps, the night wind brushed lightly past.
And then, without saying anything, we set out on the road again.