Otome Game no Heroine de Saikyou Survival-Chapter 68

Invitation from Darkness (1)

In the course of about five months, I destroyed the northern frontier branch of the Assassins’ Guild.

It was winter when I left my master’s place, but the season had already passed through spring into an early summer, and one more season would pass, when I would turn nine years old.

Having destroyed the assassin’s guild, I left Count Hadel’s territory, where the Northern Frontier Branch was located, on that very day and headed for Baron Nolf’s territory, which was next to the Count’s territory on the Dandol frontier.

That noble was the client whose relics were taken by the Mercenary of Dawn I had assassinated.

It was not that I simply awakened and became an assassin, but…

The relic….as a person who had lost my parents in an accident, I felt that it was something special, and I wanted to return it to the owner if possible.

*Charari…

“…”

I took out the necklace from the [Shadow Storage] in the palm of my hand and looked at it.

Tears of the Spirits… They were very rarely obtained from defeated spirits, and were also treated as jewelry. Since the original was a highly pure magic stone, it could be used as a talisman with a simple magic circle.

Because of this, the price of Tears of Spirits was high. There had even been a series of accidents in which those, who had tried to hunt spirits by intentionally making them mad, had been struck back and died. The Fandria Dharma State, which was the headquarters of the Church, had decided that not only selling, but even possessing Tears of Spirits was a crime.

Although there was no enforcement power, there was no one with the power to oppose the Holy Church, which had many light attribute magicians.

I was not interested in how Baron Nolf came to have this.

As I recalled, even at that time, it was worth no more than the 20 large gold coins which was also the price of the commission fee, so he certainly had a great desire to get it back even if he had to pay such a large sum.

I took a week to arrive in the town where Baron Nolf lived, passing through forests and small towns without stopping at any large towns as a precaution, but I did not encounter any remnants of the assassin’s guild.

Was I being too cautious? …No, I didn’t think many people noticed that I was the one who had crushed the guild, but there was nothing wrong with being vigilant.

The demon leather cloak I bought at Gelf’s store was destroyed in the battle, so now that I was wearing a cloak I bought at a regular store, I didn’t think they would be able to follow me just based on my appearance.

This content is taken from fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm.

I paid a silver coin to enter the town, and while eating soup I had ordered from a food stall, I asked about the town and the lords.

“You see that mansion on the hill over there? That’s the lord’s mansion.”

“Oh…”

The mansion, which could be seen from the street, looked more splendid than Baron Ceres’ mansion that I had infiltrated as a maid before, although I thought it was partly due to its proximity to Dandol.

“It might appear small compared to what you’d see if you came from a big city like Dandol, but it’s not too bad here either. Though the taxes have gone up a bit in the last few years.”

“What’s going on?”

I asked in a hushed tone of voice, and the shopkeeper, who seemed to love to gossip, sneaked a look at me as he said.

“I think it was about two years ago… the former wife of the lord was attacked and killed by bandits in a carriage on the way to another estate.”

“…The previous? Bandits?”

“Oh, you don’t know anything about that either, do you? After that, he gathered knights, adventurers, and others to form a large strike force and defeated the bandits, but it seems that the lord was overworked and had to borrow money from a somewhat disreputable trading company.”

“…It must have been a hard time.”

I guessed he had his relics stolen by Mercenary of Dawn at that time, and he borrowed money from that trading company to pay the fee to the assassin’s guild.

“I don’t know how much of this is true? But after that, the daughter of the Chamber of Commerce entered the mansion as his future wife, and then the taxes became so high that it became a rumor that the lord couldn’t refuse whatever his new wife wished to do.”

“I see…”

Well, the town wasn’t that bad, so if you’re an adventurer, you would give your all to improve it.

Saying that, the shopkeeper laughed heartily. But…

“How do you know I’m a woman?”

“Even if you are dressed like that, I can tell at a glance if you are a beautiful maiden who appears like a delicate man.”

“…”

It seemed that my appearance was no longer that of a man.

Regardless of that, from the information I had obtained, the baron’s reputation was not bad. The fact that no one had said anything bad about him, even though his taxes were a little higher, must be because he had done many good things for the town and governed so well.

I was thinking that the high taxes were probably forced by his wife to collect more money.

It never occurred to me that the Chamber of Commerce could end up with a bad reputation because it was usually the Chamber of Commerce that regulated the flow of money and lent funds to those who were in need.

It was the baron’s decision to borrow money from a merchant association with a bad reputation and to make a request to the assassin’s guild, so it was up to him to decide what he would do from now on.

I had only come to return the relics to him as a way of apologizing.

As for other information, I had heard that the baron had a daughter, so it might be easier to give it to her than to the baron himself.

At any rate, let’s check out the baron’s mansion.

Since I entered the town as an adventurer, it might be natural for me to visit the Adventurers’ Guild, but if I stopped by the guild, they might have a record of my visit, so it would be better not to make too many side trips in this town.

Even if I were to return the relics, it would be better to wait until nightfall.

From a quick glance, the mansion seemed to have no magical defenses, which meant there seemed to be no problem sneaking in, so I observed the mansion from a distance that was not unnatural, when suddenly a voice called out to me from behind.

“Are you an adventurer, by any chance?”

“…Yeah.”

The woman was wearing a dress that looked reasonably good but had a slightly outdated look to it.

I had noticed her approaching, but since she was walking in the same manner as a normal person, I thought it would be more unnatural to pay attention to her, so I let it go.

“Ah, I knew it. I thought I felt the presence of someone young, but you have a different ambiance, so I thought maybe I was mistaken.”

I nodded, and the woman laughed cheerfully as she clapped her hands.

“…Who are you?”

“Oh, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have been so blunt. I am Nora, daughter of the lord of this land.”

“The lord’s…daughter?”

I did not expect to encounter my target so easily….

I let out an involuntary murmur at Nora, who had changed from her cheerful mood and displayed a curtsy that seemed to be that of an aristocrat, and she immediately returned to her previous cheerful personality and waved her hand as if in a panic.

“Don’t mind me, I’m the daughter of a small local lord, even though I’m a noble, so, um…”

“So, what do you want with me, an adventurer?”

“Oh, yes, well, I was wondering if there were any female adventurers I could talk to. I was wondering if you could give me a moment of your precious time?”

“…okay.”

Normally, I shouldn’t get involved. But when she said she wanted to talk to me, for some reason I felt a sense of urgency, and I agreed.

But I had forgotten. Nora was the daughter of a small local lord, and although she was a friendly person who did not seem like an aristocrat, she was the daughter of a baroness who united more than 10,000 people.

There was no way that the daughter of a noble family would be standing on the side of the road like this to talk.

“I’m sorry about the tea I brewed for you.”

“…I don’t mind.”

Nora herself made me tea in what looked like a reception room inside the mansion.

It couldn’t be helped that I entered the mansion. Let’s look on the bright side. Why was she making the tea instead of a servant?

If she was serving royalty as a lady-in-waiting, she could have been the baron’s daughter, but the fact that she was dressed in clothes that didn’t look like a noblewoman and was out alone without an escort may have had something to do with it.

“Me…I have to get married soon. I’m the daughter of a noble, so I have no objection to being married to the person my parents have decided to marry…but… I’m feeling a little vulnerable. I wanted to talk to an adventurer who can go to different places.”

“…What do you want to ask?”

I told her a few casual stories about [adventurers] as she begged me to, and Nora gradually told me her own story.

She mentioned having a fiancée when she was a little girl. It was the third son of the baron’s family, who was to be her husband, and they liked each other, but last year, not knowing what happened, her fiancé was suddenly changed.

“I think he’s talking to his parents too…but… I’m an aristocrat and so is he. We can’t go against our families…”

Nora tried hard to appear as cheerful as she could, but her smile still couldn’t hide the sadness within it.

“I see…”

I didn’t understand the subtleties of love. But I somehow knew that Nora still had feelings for her former fiancé.

“Nora-san, what are you doing?”

At that moment, the door opened without knocking and a flamboyant-looking woman in her late twenties entered the reception room.

“Oh, Mother…”

“Oh, I see, we have a guest.”

The woman…probably the baron’s wife, who came from the trading company I had heard rumors about.

The woman, wearing a well-tailored dress different from Nora’s, took off her cloak, saw me sitting on the sofa, understood at first glance that I was an adventurer, exhaled with a “humph” through her nose, ignored me, and continued her conversation with Nora.

“I wonder if your errand to the Chamber of Commerce is over? You are marrying my brother, so you must have said hello to him, right? Lynus will be the next baron, so you’d better flatter him now, or you’ll regret it.”

“Yes…”

“And I don’t want you to be with this little brat…”

That woman’s voice stopped in mid-sentence.

I did nothing. Not a conversation, not even an Intimidate.

“…”

But the woman who turned to look at me, saw something in my eyes as she stared right back at me silently, her legs dropped slightly, and a slight look of fright flashed across her face.

“Hmph, you undisciplined little brat!”

Bang! The woman left the room at a quick pace, closing the door behind her as if slamming it.

“I’m sorry.”

“I don’t care.”

I shook my head lightly at Nora, who looked sincerely apologetic, surprised at her future mother’s attitude.

You really didn’t have to worry about it. Because there was something I noticed too.

***

After parting with Nora, I exited the baron’s mansion, and a short while later I noticed the presence of several people following me.

Two people…too shortsighted for that second wife to have made a move on me, given the timing. But after a little while that number dwindled to one, then after a while to four, and finally to ten.

“Why don’t you come out?”

I deliberately stepped into a back alley and called out to them when we were no longer on the streets, and the men soon appeared before me with a slightly startled look on their faces.

“No, no, no, as I expected. You’re the “ash-haired” one, aren’t you?”

“…Who are you?”

The men who appeared were dressed like ordinary, unremarkable people who could be found anywhere.

Only a few people knew who I was and called me ash-haired

But since they had gathered such a large force against a single child, it would not be an easy discussion.

The one man in his early twenties who approached us, dressed well, bowed his head in a pretentious gesture like an aristocrat and smiled like a reptile.

“From the Thieves’ Guild, we have come for you.”