The scene returns to late at night.
Gorn, a mid-rank noble, burned with fierce resentment.
Ever since that young upstart named Argusta appeared on the public stage, everything had become gradually more difficult, as if a silk cord was slowly tightening around his neck.
And now that difficulty had become decisive.
Strict document management.
It was only natural, yet many people had skillfully exploited loopholes to gain profit.
All the things everyone had been doing could no longer be done.
That was why he panicked.
The terror of losing the easy gains he had enjoyed… he could not endure it.
He reached out to others who had committed similar fraud, gathered comrades, and tried to eliminate the root of all evil.
But the opponent was the richest person in the kingdom, and more importantly, his companion was someone who could not be charged with murder.
The gathered comrades quickly gave up, let go of their easy life, and chose to live honestly.
Yet he still struggled.
Even when his comrades turned their backs on him, he kept struggling. He continued to struggle.
『Sorry. It seems the kingdom’s spies have started moving. I personally don’t want to give up living comfortably, but it looks like I have to correct my way of thinking. Therefore, I will retire, hand over the family headship to my son, and return to my territory. You should also stop struggling and prepare yourself to throw everything away once.』
His last remaining old friend withdrew to his own territory.
It was a choice that someone like him, who served in the capital, could never make.
But his income was by no means small.
Though it came with the caveat that he had to live luxuriously every day.
In his way of thinking, a mid-rank noble serving in the capital was nothing more than a poor person with a noble title.
That was exactly why he kept struggling, gathering money and scattering it in an attempt to regain what he had lost.
In his parents’ generation, he had been judged as 「lacking ability」 and demoted from upper to mid-rank nobility.
His lifestyle changed completely.
The daily luxuries disappeared, and his life became as shabby and poor as if he had been reduced to a beggar.
His parents kept making excuses with lines like 「It’s modest, but it has its own flavor and that’s nice too」, as if they were even proud of their failure.
He could not forgive them. Those incompetent parents.
So he slowly fed them small doses of poison and had them pass the family headship to him early.
After that, he used every method he could think of to enrich his own life.
He felt no guilt.
He was simply doing what everyone else was already doing.
「Why?!」
He knew the reason. That hateful young upstart was to blame for everything.
So he thought about it.
『They were the ones who attacked first. They were the ones who used their money to suppress us.』
Since they did it to him, he should be allowed to do it back. He would make sure no one could complain.
Tonight, the assassin he had hired for a high price was coming for a final check.
Tomorrow during the day, that young man would be out on an inspection in the suburbs.
On the way there he would be with that strongest monster, but on the way back there should only be a few escort knights.
If he was going to strike, that was the only chance.
Knock knock.
「Enter.」
「Excuse me.」
The elderly butler entered.
He was his loyal right-hand man, the person who had arranged the poison to kill his parents. His trust in him was deep.
「He has arrived.」
「Show him in.」
「Yes.」
The butler bowed and left.
After waiting for a while, the door opened again…
Thud.
A dull sound rang out, followed by silence.
He wondered what had happened as the double doors slowly swung inward.
An old man with his eyes wide open and tongue hanging loosely collapsed, spilling filth across the floor.
「What is going on?!」
「Hello there～ It’s the assassin.」
「What?」
On the other side of the collapsed old butler stood a very small girl… everything about her was tiny.
「You are…」
「Ahaha. So someone recognizes me.」
「……」
He had seen her before.
The one who had forced her way in was unmistakably a subordinate of the companion he had been planning to assassinate.
He instinctively reached for his weapon, grabbed it, and pulled it close.
As a member of the kingdom army, he had received the minimum required training. He had learned swordsmanship and everything else.
The girl didn’t even glance at the weapon in his hand and simply grinned.
「Seriously～ I really wish people would stop hiring assassins. It’s such a pain to track them down every single time.」
「What?」
「You hired assassins with money… The investigation is already complete, Gorn, mid-rank noble.」
This time she politely pinched the hem of her skirt and gave a graceful bow.
The sight filled him with rage. He felt like nothing more than a toy being mocked.
「By the way, I’ve already taken care of the assassins too. I stabbed one through the heart right as he was about to buy a woman in a back alley. Ah～ He was such a precious existence who lusted after me… Ahh. I really hate this kind of work.」
She suddenly collapsed to the floor in tears and started pounding it.
Gorn felt like he had caught a glimpse of why she was called a weirdo or a madwoman.
「But it’s fine. Once I’m freed from all that paperwork, I’ll set off on a journey tomorrow to find a good partner!」
She raised both hands and stood up. He no longer had any idea what she wanted.
「……What did you come here for?」
The question slipped out of his mouth naturally.
She clapped her hands, pulled a small package from her bosom, and held it out on her palm for him to see.
「Ah, yes. Please drink this poison and die. Since it’s still only an attempt… your family will have their noble rank stripped, but they should be able to survive.」
She spoke the heavy words as casually as if she were commenting on the weather.
「Don’t fuck with me!」
Unable to hold back any longer, he drew his sword and took a stance. She might be a weirdo, but she was just a girl.
With a bright laugh, she drew the sword she carried behind her waist.
「I’m being serious, you know?」
「Then don’t laugh! You lot are nothing but janitors cleaning up the leftovers from monsters!」
He knew the soldiers mocked them with those words.
Thanks to that, he and his colleagues had managed to erase their own existence.
「……Yes. But before that, I was a little famous, you know?」
「What?」
「I was the 『Hound』, and she was the 『One within the Shadow』.」
Hearing those names, Gorn felt his heart shrink and throb with pain.
「The Hound… and the One within the Shadow?」
「Yes. But you’re lucky. Since I’m the one dealing with you, you’ll just die normally. If it had been her… well, you know?」
「……U-Uwaaaaah!」
Desperate, he swung the sword he gripped with all his strength.
A few moments later… a blade pierced him from behind, and he died.
「……Cleaning up afterwards is such a hassle.」
She kicked over the lamp in the room… and then she hunted down every single person inside the mansion.
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