"… I never thought I"d come here again."

About two weeks after saying goodbye to Princess, I arrived at the Royal Capital of Sahaja, Rajed.
Rajed is a desert town. To reduce the damage from sandstorms, a tall wall surrounds it.
Before I didn"t think that at all, but now I spontaneously frowned at how it looks just like a prison.
On the low hill in the center stands the Rebellion Royal Palace. At least from the outside it looks like a robust, simple building, but inside everything from walls to ceilings seems to be decorated with gold. However I only heard that from rumors, I"ve not once intruded there.
In one go I pulled up the scarf from my neck to prevent sand from entering.
There are many things that you don"t have to do in Wilhelm blessed with land that you have to do in this country… So it"s not like I don"t understand the feeling of envy towards Wilhelm.
It"s blessed with a mild climate and abundant in resources. The plains are a perfect granary, and there are metal veins in the mountains.
It"s said the gra.s.s is always greener on the other side, but here it"s so much greener it"s not worth mentioning.

"… n.o.body"s here, is there?"

If I"d used a transfer gate, I would have come here easily in no time, but it was of course impossible. I"m too well-known in Sahaja.
It"s the norm for Sahaja to have people affiliated with guilds to watch every transfer gate exit.
Everybody living in this country knows a.s.sa.s.sin guilds are connected to the King, so if somebody suspicious uses a transfer gate, that information will be immediately reported to the King.
For better or worse, I"m too conspicuous.
If my face - and characteristic eyes are seen once, my ident.i.ty will be exposed.
In the end, I had no choice but to choose the simplest method of avoiding public attention.

Wilhelm and Sahaja are neighboring countries, but their capitals are too far apart.
The last time while I was afflicted with the curse it took me around twenty days to enter the Royal Capital of Wilhelm. This time, thanks to using the secret art I was slightly faster, I managed to enter Rajed in about two weeks.
I got past the wall in an out-of-sight place and entered the Royal Capital.
It wasn"t easy to travel while paying attention to not attract anybody"s attention. I didn"t know where a.s.sa.s.sins could be watching. I thought it would be dangerous to stay at inns, so ever since leaving Wilhelm I paid attention to sleeping in the shade of a tree or hidden by some object. After entering the Royal Capital, I made sure to pay even more attention.
I haven"t been this tense since I was an active a.s.sa.s.sin. Doing what I always naturally did for the first time in a while made me understand just how much I relaxed in Wilhelm.
Princess and granny, that Crown Prince, everybody is so relaxed when dealing with me, I"ve already lost the habit of vigilance I had cultivated for many years.

"… I have to concentrate a bit more."

I"m slacking off. It might be good in Wilhelm (actually it isn"t), but in the worst case, losing focus in Sahaja can get me killed. Recalling the old times when I was an active a.s.sa.s.sin, I motivated myself again.

"… First of all, the hideout. I wonder if it"s still there."

To free myself, I destroyed the hideout that had been a shabby place from the start.
It"s a place where I killed guild members and the guild master Gill, it"s difficult to imagine it still exists. It was probably even set on fire. So I thought.
And yet――.

"… I"m surprised. It"s still here."

Although the corpses were disposed, the Red"s headquarter was left exactly as it had been.
I confirmed there were no presences of people and secretly intruded.
The building appeared to be a dilapidated house from the start, and now that n.o.body visits it, its state has worsened, it looks like it could collapse at any moment.

"… On the contrary, ain"t it dangerous to leave it?"

While going upstairs, I muttered so. The stairs were in a condition where they"d wobble just by setting foot on them.
Lightly placing my feet, I jumped from step to step without putting my weight on them.
Soon I arrived upstairs, but its condition was quite dangerous.

"it"s more dilapidated than before…"

Something like white dust was falling from the ceiling. The building must be beginning to collapse. Having realized the building is nearing its limit, I rushed to my destination.

I felt complicated as I arrived at the place that had been a.s.signed as my room when I belonged to Red.
I"ve never thought of it as my room, even so for a short period I lived there. I fixedly stared at the bed I"d always lied in.
There was n.o.body to take care of the bed whose owner hadn"t returned in several months, so white dust piled up thinly.

"… Ah, I can"t. It"s not the time to be sentimental."

I incidentally reminisced about the past, but I can"t afford to be doing that.
Although there"s a possibility it had been disposed of, I looked under the bed and with wide open eyes searched if there wasn"t anything left.

"… It"s here."

What came out was a largish bundle of doc.u.ments.
Inside, the details of the job I was supposed to receive were written.
An a.s.sa.s.sination request for foreign royalty.
I quickly looked through the doc.u.ments I"d heard that about.
As I thought, the a.s.sa.s.sination target was the Crown Prince of Wilhelm.
I thought it"d definitely be that man, since the request was from the King and moreover to a.s.sa.s.sinate foreign royalty, and I was right.
It says that I"m free to choose the a.s.sa.s.sination method, but I must kill him before the deadline. Failure is not allowed. There"s a condition to act discreetly to not expose Sahaja"s involvement. The a.s.sa.s.sination deadline is - one week from today.

"… That"s bad. It"s too close."

Holding the doc.u.ments in hand I muttered so.
Even if I hurry back now, I won"t make it in time. Had I recalled the existence of the doc.u.ments a little earlier… no, had I decided to come here a little earlier it would be okay, but even if I do my best from now on, I"ll be just barely too late… That"s roughly how it is. Then, there"s no point in it.
Besides, this is purely the a.s.sa.s.sination deadline, it doesn"t mean the a.s.sa.s.sination will take place on that day.

"… What do I do…?"

That said, even if his opponent were Scheat, that Crown Prince would be able to repel him. That"s why I decided to not worry about that and while stas.h.i.+ng the doc.u.ments in my breast pocket thought about my actions from now on.
For now I obtained the doc.u.ments that serve as evidence. However, I thought.
Even if it"s okay to return with the doc.u.ments as planned, I can"t just go back with them alone.

"My name would get sullied if this was my only souvenir."

I"m not so useless. I"ve come to Sahaja that I intended to never visit again, it"d be too lame to come back with only these doc.u.ments. I want to obtain something recent.

"… Do I try sneaking inside the Royal Palace?"

It"s not impossible for me. If I go to the audience hall or the King"s office, I"ll be able to obtain information that aren"t officially available.
That should help Princess too.

"… Alright. Let"s immediately obtain a floor plan somewhere――."
"I think it"s a good idea, but I think you should look for a chance?"
"Ah!?"

Suddenly addressed from behind, I looked back.
I"d heard that voice many times and became familiar with it, so I immediately understood who it is, but I didn"t expect him to appear here in the slightest.

"… Scheat."

Seeing the expected face, I called his name.
He"s wearing the usual priest robe. With the inverted cross rosary hanging around his neck, Scheat tilted his head and smiled sweetly.

"Yo, it"s been a while, Cain. I didn"t think you"d come to this country at all, so I"m happy… Welcome home, can I say that?"
"Whose home."

Like h.e.l.l I"d call this place home.
I spat out the words loaded with such feelings. I guess, with these words Scheat turned his eyes to the doc.u.ments I was holding.

"Well, I don"t think you suit this side anymore. But, you came for the doc.u.ments even though you had no idea whether they"d still be here? Hey? You said you don"t serve Wilhelm, so I wonder for whose sake you"ve expressly come here for. If you really have nothing to do with Wilhelm, it shouldn"t have been necessary, right? Coming here shouldn"t have been worth the risk… If you really are unrelated."
"… Shuddup."
"Fufu, sorry. I wonder if I sounded malicious."

Seeing Scheat"s expression as he laughed with a malicious face, I realized everything was known.
The unguarded hideout. The doc.u.ments that shouldn"t have been left.
And yet, why were they left――?
When I collected myself and thought a little, I could guess.
I spontaneously made a bitter face.

"… That"s a poor hobby. Thinking I"d come, you left them here on purpose, huh."

Editor: Valeria