Otome Game no Heroine de Saikyou Survival-Chapter 69

Invitation from Darkness (2)

The Thieves’ Guild?

The men who appeared were from the Thieves’ Guild.

Why was the Thieves’ Guild here? What did they mean when they said they were coming for me? How did they know about me in the first place?

There was a lot of information I wanted to know, but the answer came from an unexpected source.

“What? What the hell are you doing, Lynus?

The man behind them shouted, and the young man who had first approached me, called Lynus, turned around with a grin on his face.

“Oh, I appreciate your information. After all, not only did you help us learn about the destruction of the Assassins’ Guild’s northern frontier branch so quickly, but you also brought us information about the important person who did it.”

“And now you are going to help us avenge them.””

“Oh, is that so?”

Lynus…that name sounded familiar.

I turned my attention to the man behind me, whose face and body were wrapped in a blood-soaked cloth like a bandage. After he noticed my gaze, he turned his burning, hateful eyes on me.

…Oh, this man…

“Beggar.”

“Ash-haired!”

The watchman and guide outside the guild. Well, this man survived.

“The liaison who went to the Royal Capital with you and Radha came out of the guild after the fire had started and told us of your betrayal at the moment of his death! All the people outside who went to the Guild were also caught in the chapel collapse, and it was all because of you!!!!”

“I see.”

“It was you!”

As I replied without much emotion, the beggar became furious and pulled a dagger from his waist.

Apparently, it was an unseen liaison man who had opened the ignition trap I had set at the entrance. If my information had leaked out from there, it was my fault for not making it an instant-death trap.

Still, I was glad to know that most of the people outside were also dead and that they had found out that I was the one who had destroyed the guild because I was curious to know about the aftereffects that followed right after I left.

“Gubo! Nah…oh, man.”

The beggar suddenly coughed up blood, and one of the bandits stabbed him through the gut from behind, to his horror.

“I’m grateful to you, but I don’t want you to interrupt me in the middle of my story. Settle him quick.”

Lynus snapped his fingers and several bandits around him pierced the beggar’s neck and chest, and the beggar was finally able to reach for me, but the light slowly faded from his eyes.

“I thought bandits didn’t kill?”

I muttered, and the bandits’ attention returned to me, and Lynus who was standing there brushed his bangs away in a pretentious gesture.

“You know very well. But that’s only against civilians. Besides, this guy tried to get his hands on you, so he deserved it.”

“…”

It looked to me like you’ve already taken care of him because he was no longer of any use to you.

“How did you know I was here?”

“Before that, did you have the Tears of the Spirit? It was originally arranged that we would purchase it from the Mercenary of Dawn. Can you give it to us? Of course, we’ll pay you exactly what we were going to pay them.

I see. So, this was what they were after.

Lynus’ eyes lit up when I nodded lightly and showed him the necklace from Shadow Storage like a magic trick.

“What’s the reward?”

“Twelve large gold coins. And if you make a contract with us, we will pay you three more.”

Lynus, perhaps sensing a connection when I asked how much he was willing to pay, gave a lowly smile for a moment, and then said the word contract.

“Contract?”

“Hmm, it’s only natural that I would want to have a skilled man like you as a friend. Even if you destroyed the assassins’ guild, the other branches are still alive, and the survivors of those branches are still after your life. But the Thieves’ Guild and the Assassins’ Guild have a secret agreement of mutual non-interference. If you come to our side, even if you become their target, the Assassins Guild won’t be able to touch you so easily. How does that sound? It’s not a bad deal, is it?”

…So, that’s what this was all about.

He was probably planning to bind me under the guise of protecting me and turn me into the exclusive assassin of the Thieves’ Guild, who was less skilled in combat.

“I thought this necklace wasn’t that expensive?”

“If it can’t be bought and sold, it means there will be people who want it even more. You came here to sell it to the baron, didn’t you? But the baron’s family has no more money, and even if you sell it anyway, it will eventually come into our hands.”

“…”

So give it to us, the highest bidder, that’s what Lynus meant.

He had already thought it through that I was going to sell this necklace to Baron Nolf, and he had been waiting for me.

I had a lot of information. But what was the reason for returning the relic to the Baron’s family and then having it fall into the hands of the Thieves’ Guild?

I accelerated my thinking by strengthening my body and reassembled the information I had obtained.

Ah…I see.

“Lynus…Nora’s new fiancée.”

As I muttered this, Lynus’ eyes widened slightly.

“…You’ve already got that much information? Hmmm…as expected. That’s why you deserve to be one of us. As you can see, the barons are already in the hands of the Thieves’ Guild. Now, take my offer!”

Lynus smiled briskly and held out his hand to me. I stepped forward to meet it.

But I did not take Lynus’ hand, and I slashed at Lynus’ neck with the dark weapon from [Shadow Storage] in the palm of my hand as it was.

“Geeaaaahhh!”

It was a little shallow.

The slight pause gave Lynus a chance to evade, and my blade only ended up slashing Lynus’ face.

“Hey, what are you doing! Without the protection of the Thieves’ Guild, you are!”

“I don’t need it.”

The fiancée of the Baron Nora, Nolf. He was the younger brother of the second-in-command from the merchant family from whom the baron had borrowed money from.

The merchant family itself was probably one of the members of the Thieves’ Guild.

Did the merchant family pull strings to ensure that the Baron would obtain the Tears of the Spirit? Or did he use the death of his ex-wife to gain control of the baron’s house?

…No, most likely both.

Even the death of his ex-wife, who was attacked by bandits, was most likely orchestrated by the Thieves’ Guild.

It was more natural to assume that Mercenary of Dawn was also connected to the Thieves guild from the beginning. If so, the misfortune that befell Baron Nolf this time was also orchestrated by the Thieves’ Guild, which wanted to gain all the money and status.

The baron would never have taken the hand of those who had killed Nora’s mother out of lust.

“Do, do it! The other party is just a kid!!!!”

Lynus shouted, showing his crude nature, and the eight bandits held their blades and braced themselves.

“…”

The lowest combat power was around 100, and the highest was around 300 for Lynus. Most of them were Rank 2 in terms of combat power, and three of them, including Lynus, were Rank 3. I guessed one of them was a sorcerer, given his strength and magic value.

Among them, a young man in the back with a combat power of around 120 pulled a face when he saw me. He probably used [appraisal] or an appraisal crystal to see my combat power. Then–

“Be careful, this guy–“

“–Shadow Pain –“

Before the man could say anything else, my throwing knife pierced his brow, which had gone rigid from the Shadow Pain.

“Don’t let your guard down!”

“Scatter!”

The bandits, who had been looking for an opening, got serious when one of them was easily killed, and attacked me without a care in the world.

“You fool! Don’t think you can beat this many people, ash-haired!”

A fast-moving man lunged at me with a dagger. But he was too slow.

Without looking away from the tip of the dagger, which was coming right at my face, I ducked as if tilting my head and slashed deeply at his neck as if passing by him.

Six more–

“–Shadow Snatch–“

A shadow the size of a clenched fist tumbles to the ground. The man who jumped into it was shot in the groin by a crossbow arrow which had shot from directly below him, and the moment he stopped moving, his throat was slashed open by a pendulum blade and his life scattered.

The blade of the pendulum, with its strings drawn, was pulled out from the corpse, and the blade dancing in an arc sliced the face of the man stunned by the deaths of his comrade, and at that moment I jumped in and thrust a black knife from under his chin which went right up to his brain, killing him with one swift move.

The four remaining men–

“Fire Javelin!”

The sorcerer released a Rank 3 fire magic Fire Javelin. But he was obviously in too much of a hurry. A direct hit would kill me instantly, but even more than that, the flames scattered around me would burn even his friends.

“–Magic Shield –“

*Parin!

The magic shield I had chanted on the spur of the moment was insufficient and shattered with a phantom sound like a glass breaking. But with such a poor composition, it’s enough to keep it for a moment.

“Gyaaaaah!”

The deflected flaming spear hit the bandit who was closing in using the Concealment from behind me and turned him into charcoal.

I took off my cloak, which had begun to burn in the aftermath, and spread it out to block the view of the man who had begun to chant his next spell.

At the same time, I threw the throwing knife I had pulled out of my thigh, and when the burning cloak fell to the ground, the sorcerer had already died, his eyes and throat pierced by the knife.

The two remaining–

“You little bitch!”

A Rank 3-like man with two machetes rushed in.

“–[Heavy]–“

I cast Heavy and ran up the wall, jumping over the man’s head and shooting dark magic at the last man behind him.

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“–Shadow Pain–“

“Gee!”

As I threw a knife at the man who had stopped moving to take away his strength, the Rank 3 from earlier jumped at me from behind, his face turning red as if he thought I was making fun of him.

“You’ve got to be kidding me, Gugyak!?”

The man, who didn’t notice the pendulum strings that were stretched when he jumped over, was strangled by his own momentum and his own weight, and at that moment I turned around behind him and pulled the strings as I kicked him in the back of the head–

*Gokin…!

As it was, I snapped the man’s neck.

Before I realized it, there was no one left standing, and Lynus, who I had first slashed him across the face, had somehow disappeared.

…He escaped. But no problem.

I kicked the man in the jaw, who was fainting in agony from Shadow Pain and the knife in his abdomen, took out a poison pill from my waist pouch and doused the man’s wound.

“Geeaaaahhh!!!?”

The man, who was dripping all sorts of things from his face, after receiving the poison that was used by that female bandit specializing in kidnapping to cause severe pain, shook his head as if he couldn’t believe his situation.

Come on, I’d let you tell me what’s going on.

You didn’t have to understand. But remember this.

The Assassins Guild became enemies with me and my master, so I had destroyed them. And you…

“You have also become my enemies.”