For that, a passport and identification card were essential, but I submitted a forged passport and ID to the customs officer. They were disguises prepared by Jeronimo.
Since they were counterfeits made by the Master Forger, the customs officer harbored no suspicion, and just like that, I was able to arrive in Italy in a mere thirty minutes.
“······Amazing.”
The atmosphere of southern Turin was unfamiliar. That was only natural, since it was a foreign country, but in my setting, Italy was actually a rather unusual nation. The reason, without a doubt, was the existence of the Mafia.
On the surface, the Italian government and the Mafia were antagonistic toward each other, but the reality was somewhat different.
To begin with, the Mafia of Italy in my setting was not some lawless, rotten organization.
When monster incidents occurred, they sometimes cooperated with the government, and some of the larger Mafia families had even formed guilds of their own and entered the respectable side of society.
They pursued self-sufficiency and self-preservation within the bounds of the law, in their own way.
Though a loach occasionally slipped through the cracks.
In any case, the Mafia that had amassed power generally established bases in Turin and Milan, far from the central government.
The major figures in these two strongholds were probably the Colleone family and the Fermun siblings.
Colleone was the most powerful Mafia in Milan and Turin, while the Fermun siblings were elite private soldiers who had grown under Colleone’s patronage.
Which meant that I now had to kill a member of the largest power in the region······.
No. This request might have been commissioned directly by Colleone. My target had used his position as a member of the Colleone family to bring shame upon the family’s name.
“Hey, rookie. Over here.”
Just as I was quietly starting toward the hotel—
Someone called out to me. A languid yet deep voice. I turned my head toward it.
“······Huh?”
The Captain was standing there. Without changing her expression at all, she simply raised one hand high into the air. Like a child waiting for the signal to cross the street.
* * *
At the same time, in Cube’s martial arts training room.
“Ah~ I’m tired.”
Cha Nayun let out a languid sigh and flopped down onto the floor. Kim Suho, who had served as her sparring partner until just moments ago, couldn’t look directly at her. Her sparring uniform was soaked with sweat and clung tightly to her body, making the movement of her chest far too conspicuous.
Cha Nayun, however, paid no attention to such things and glanced to the side. Yoo Yeonha was pondering something with a rather serious expression.
“Hey, Yoo Yeonha. What the hell are you doing? I even went out of my way to find you a sparring partner.”
“······.”
Yoo Yeonha turned her head away without a word. Then she replied briefly.
“······I was just thinking.”
At the moment, Yoo Yeonha was curious about what had happened the previous evening. Why had Kim Hajin been together with that girl, and who exactly was she?
Was she his daughter? No, but there was no way a seventeen-year-old could have a daughter like that. If not his daughter, then his niece? No, an orphan couldn’t have a niece. Then could it be—could it possibly be child molestation······? No. Kim Hajin was absolutely not that kind of person.
“Hey, hey. Doesn’t seem like it’s nothing~ Is this about Shin Jonghak again?”
At Cha Nayun’s words, Yoo Yeonha’s shoulders flinched.
“W-Why would Jonghak be involved?”
“I don’t know. I was just wondering if he dumped you.”
For a moment, Yoo Yeonha clenched her teeth. Her anger surged violently. How dare she bring up Shin Jonghak? She was already irritated to death after getting rejected when she asked him to study together······
Enraged, she blurted out the first thing that came to mind.
“Ah, right. Nayun. Kim Hajin hates you now.”
“What? What are you suddenly talking about? Have you gone crazy?”
“Oh. Really?”
Even Kim Suho seemed interested. Yoo Yeonha shrugged.
“Of course. He says he likes Rachel more now. The rumor’s everywhere, you know? No. If I were him, I’d like Rachel more than Nayun too.”
“W-What? What did you say? Have you lost your mind?”
Cha Nayun shot to her feet. Yoo Yeonha didn’t look frightened, however. Instead, she merely added with a bright smile,
“I’m just saying. And besides, it has nothing to do with you anyway. You said you hated him, didn’t you?”
“······.”
Cha Nayun was rendered speechless. She had no response to that. She had gone around saying exactly that herself.
“..Tch.”
Cha Nayun shot Yoo Yeonha one more glare before moving to sit far away. Yoo Yeonha didn’t spare her a glance either.
An awkward silence filled the space between them.
“······Hey, hey. What’s with you two? You were getting along just fine until now. Ah, don’t be like this. Yoo Yeonha, want to spar with me? I’ll help you. You came here to train too, didn’t you? Huh, Cha Nayun? Ah. Where did that bastard Lee Younghan go······”
Kim Suho, caught between the two of them for no reason, felt as though he were going to die.
* * *
Turin, Italy.
In an alley with no prying eyes nearby, I unfolded the bike. The Captain seemed surprised by the sudden appearance of the motorcycle, and stroked its body with a face full of curiosity.
I asked her,
“Did you come to help me?”
“No. I will not be helping you.”
As she said that, the Captain climbed onto my bike. I stood there blankly and tilted my head.
“······What are you doing?”
“Rookie, drive. I want to try going for a drive.”
“······.”
It was a little absurd, but I climbed on in front of her and gripped the handlebars. Vroom, vroom─ It had a small, quiet engine.
I left the alley and drove the bike toward the road.
“Rookie, let’s take one lap around Turin. We still have plenty of time anyway.”
The Captain whispered in a low voice.
“······Yes, yes.”
Following her instructions, I drove along the road.
===
[Horse Saddle] [Antique]
A horse saddle once favored by an unnamed cavalryman 500 years ago.
Once you place your buttocks on this saddle, you become more adept at handling mounts.
===
Thanks to this horse saddle I had bought at Clancy Islet, driving was easy. As I drove, I glanced behind me. The Captain’s hair was scattering in the wind.
“There’s a social gathering at nine tonight. The location is the Leorn Estate in Turin.”
The Captain suddenly spoke while riding on the moving bike.
“The target is hosting the gathering. If you arrive around 8:30, he may be preparing the party in the garden. That would be the perfect opportunity.”
I listened intently to the hints the Captain recited.
“And in the forest near the estate, there’s an abandoned cathedral. The cathedral’s spire is high enough to serve as an elevated position for sniping from a distance.”
At that, I activated the bike’s navigation.
The conditions were the Leorn Estate and an abandoned cathedral nearby.
The navigation pointed toward a location.
I set it as our destination and turned the handlebars. It didn’t take long to reach the destination. The road disappeared along the way, but the bike paid it no heed and pushed through the forest.
As expected, a cathedral was buried amid the dense undergrowth.
I stopped the bike in front of it. The dilapidated cathedral had been abandoned, wrapped in moss and vines, but from the top of its spire, the distant estate ought to be visible.
I dismounted and checked the current time on my smartwatch.
[PM 8:10]
The Captain asked,
“Rookie. May I watch you carry out your work?”
My answer was obvious.
“It would make me uncomfortable.”
“······What is there to be uncomfortable about?”
The Captain grumbled as she climbed down from the bike. Then, just as she was about to walk away, she suddenly stopped and looked back and forth between my right hand and left arm.
The obsidian bracelet fastened around my left wrist and the ring on my right ring finger.
Her gaze remained fixed on them, showing no sign of moving away.
“······Aha.”
I realized it a moment later.
I almost forgot.
Whatever else she might be, the Captain was obsessed with pretty, high-quality equipment. That was simply her nature. I recalled that she was especially helpless when it came to anything shiny.
“······.”
At that moment, the Captain slowly raised her head.
Our eyes met.
She looked at me with an expression of faint desire. When I merely continued to stare at her, the Captain smacked her lips and said,
“What is that valuable item? It looks rather nice.”
“They’re just a ring and a bracelet.”
“The bracelet is fine. Rookie. That ring of yours······”
“Not for sale.”
I answered firmly. The Captain narrowed her eyes and glared at me.
“I never said I wanted to buy it. My vault contains plenty of things far better and prettier than that. For example, the ancient Persian emperor Darius’s······”
“I’m jealous.”
I cut her off and sprang onto the cathedral’s spire. Having grown accustomed to parkour, I moved with remarkable fluidity and agility, even by my own standards.
From atop the spire, I glanced down.
The Captain was glaring at me with displeasure.
“You should leave now.”
“······I was already going to.”
Only then did she begin walking away from the forest, her footsteps steadily carrying her off.
I checked the time on my smartwatch.
[PM 08:30]
Then, with Clairvoyance, I gauged the distance between the estate and this cathedral.
Approximately one kilometer.
Any decent Hero could cover that distance in thirty to forty seconds. But if you added the time needed to assess the situation and locate me, it would take at most one minute.
In other words, I had to escape in a single minute.
“······Whew.”
After taking one deep breath, I took out the Desert Eagle.
The Desert Eagle merged with the Stigmata’s magical power, Aether, and transformed into a vicious anti-materiel sniper rifle.
“Identify.”
The random enhancement system was applied three times in total.
First to the Desert Eagle, then to Aether, and finally to the bullet.
25, 31, 22 respectively.
“······My luck’s a little bad today.”
Even if my luck was somewhat lacking, it was still an enhanced round. I had also added the property of oxidizing after penetration to eliminate evidence. On top of that, I planned to invest some of the Stigmata’s magical power without holding back, so one shot should be enough to send him off for good.
[PM 8:35]
I covered my face with the mask I had prepared and looked toward the garden of the distant estate through Clairvoyance.
Many things had already been prepared in the garden. Waiters, champagne, food, music, and so on······
And among them was the target.
“······.”
Holding my breath, I raised the rifle.
From one kilometer away, I confirmed his face. A Western man with a splendidly grown beard. His features were sharply defined, and there was something oily about the corners of his mouth. He was furiously shouting at the waiters.
─Andiamo! ? una mossa veloce, bug!
I couldn’t make out what he was saying.
In any case, before the social gathering began, before more eyes gathered, I had to pull the trigger and kill him.
I fixed the man in my sights and placed my finger on the trigger.
The End
Vanessa Jeriel Fermun and Paulo Vetr Fermun.
The two Fermun siblings, who could be called the pride of the Colleone family, were looking out the window from a corridor in the Leorn Estate. Below the window, they could clearly see Siemens riding the waiters mercilessly in the garden.
“······I wonder if it’ll be handled properly.”
In truth, the person behind the request to the Jeronimo Mercenary Group was Vanessa Fermun, a member of the same Colleone family as Siemens. She didn’t want her godfather’s honor to be tarnished because of some filthy loach.
“It’ll be handled. It’s Jeronimo, after all.”
“No······ I think we set the reward too low. What if they do a half-hearted job?”
It was a trivial request to kill an unremarkable Italian Mafia member. The reward was nothing special either.
The Fermun siblings had, of course, considered handling the matter themselves, but when they thought of the risks if they were discovered, it became difficult to do so.
A family member killing another family member was the most heinous crime in this line of work. Even with proper procedures, it would be a matter for hesitation—and Siemens was an asset who had earned the branch leader’s trust through his dungeon-clearing achievements.
“Why does Uncle Ezio think a man like that is trustworthy······”
Vanessa was muttering through clenched teeth when it happened.
Her eyes met Siemens’s through the window. Siemens looked at Vanessa with an obscene smile. His gaze, crawling over her like a snake, was disgusting and filthy.
“Tch······ I sincerely hope Jeronimo shows no mercy.”
Vanessa prayed earnestly—more earnestly than she had ever prayed for anything. Please, let him die without even a single bone left behind.
* * *
“······.”
I did not pull the trigger. A faint blue hue had flickered around him—or rather, around the garden. If my eyesight was correct, that was some kind of “mana barrier.” A defensive system designed to ward off external attacks.
Then again, since this was a social gathering, it was only natural that there would be a barrier.
Breaking through it seemed······ fortunately, possible. The barrier did not appear to be all that sturdy.
The party probably had not begun yet, so they must have set its strength somewhat lower to avoid wasting power and mana.
At that level, the anti-demon magic should be enough to pierce it.
“Shh~ haa.”
I invested nearly all the mana remaining in my Stigmata and wrapped the bullet in anti-demon magic.
Then I took one deep breath.
Once I pulled the trigger, there would be no going back.
I would be killing, with my own hands, someone whose identity I could not even be sure of—demon or human.
But the me of today needed a certain amount of “resolve.”
I would have to remain in this world for at least ten years, perhaps even longer.
During that time, I would have to kill many people. Those killings would be killings born of necessity.
Because of that, I needed to become more daring. I needed to become more worn down.
So I hoped that today’s experience would serve as the trigger.
I kept my mouth shut and fixed my eyes on the target. Was he a demon, or a human?
I hoped he was a demon.
But if so, what was the difference between demons and humans? Were demons beings who deserved to die, while humans were beings one needed to hesitate before killing? And was I now trying to murder a character from a novel, or was I trying to kill a living, breathing person in this world······?
As my thoughts multiplied, my mind grew chaotic.
I merely closed my eyes, then opened them again. I cooled my feverish head.
There was no way to reach a conclusion on a question without an answer. This was no time to distinguish reality from fiction or invoke morality.
I hooked my finger around the trigger and slowly pulled. The trigger slid smoothly for a while, then at some point caught with a click at the end.
I pushed past that final resistance.
The sound was not particularly loud. Only the forest trembled faintly beneath the surging pressure of the air.
The bullet fired from the muzzle tore through the air and plowed through the undergrowth at an immeasurable speed.
There was only the smallest gap between the shot and its impact. But the target could not escape within that interval.
The anti-demon magic wrapped around my bullet crushed the mana barrier, and the target beyond it······ met death with his eyes wide open.
* * *
The Captain watched the scene from afar. The fired bullet shattered the mana barrier and pierced through the target’s brow. Over the target as he slid limply to the ground, the broken fragments of the mana barrier drifted down like snowflakes.
A white bullet, blue shards, and red blood. The harmony was beautiful as a painting, and the Captain quietly closed her eyes.
Red blood.
Warm blood.
The target had not been a demon.
The bodyguards around the target rushed toward him. Judging from the position in which the target had fallen, they guessed the sniper’s location and sprinted in that direction.
The Captain opened her notebook. Kim Hajin’s location was displayed in real time on its pages. Kim Hajin was in the middle of fleeing. He seemed to have sped all the way into the city on a motorcycle, then slowed sharply at a certain point. He had probably gotten off the bike.
The Captain ran toward where he had stopped.
One minute was enough.
At a coffee shop along a main street downtown, he sat calmly on the outdoor terrace, his sunglasses on and his suitcase set down beside him.
“······”
The Captain felt a faint sense of pride. Was that really the attitude of someone who had just killed a person?
But it did not take long for her to realize the truth. His hands were trembling, and beads of cold sweat had formed across his forehead.
The Captain slowly approached him.
“Rookie.”
At the call, his shoulders flinched. The Captain sat down in the seat across from him and looked at him. His eyes were hidden behind his sunglasses, so she could not see them.