Chapter 19
It was a quiet night.
Kron Castle was just as it always was.
Outside the castle, the guards patrolled the grounds.
Inside, blue moonlight shone down and bestowed peaceful sleep upon everyone.
They were there without making a sound.
Wearing black masks, they entered the castle as naturally as if they belonged there.
The guards failed to notice them even as they passed behind them, continuing their patrols.
They entered the castle as though it were their own home and ran toward their target without hesitation.
Without a breath or a footstep, they raced toward the lord's bedroom, and nothing could stop them.
If left alone, they would soon reach the lord's bedroom.
Once there, they would carry out their mission, and the lord of this castle would die without even realizing that he had been killed.
While the moonlight fretted, they reached the lord's bedroom before anyone knew it.
But the ones who had run there without stopping came to a halt for the first time.
Because she was standing in front of the lord's bedroom, where they had thought no one would be.
In front of the lord's bedroom, Lana waited for them silently in her neat maid uniform.
And in the quiet castle, she made the first sound.
“Hello. My name is Lana, and I serve Lord Calix as his maid.”
Lana politely bowed and introduced herself.
The intruders sensed the threat in her greeting.
Even in that impossibly elaborate maid uniform, her body made ‘not a sound.‘
Lana gazed calmly at the intruders with an expression as cold as ice and said:
“His Lordship is asleep. If you wish to see him, please go to the territory office tomorrow morning and register your visit.“
There was no emotion in her words.
She was merely conveying information to them, without fear or hostility.
And that was what made her words sound colder than anything else could have.
“If you approach His Lordship any further…”
Lana took one step forward.
The intruders stepped back at her movement and drew breath for the first time since arriving.
Ignoring their reaction, she said coldly:
“I will recognize you as enemies.”
A being that approached without ‘sound,’ carried out its task without a ‘heart,’ and erased its ‘target’ from the world without a ‘trace.’
That was what an 『assassin』 was.
That was why, during their training, they were always told these words:
『Empty yourself of everything. 』
The intruders had heard those words during their training and had carried out every mission without sound or emotion until now.
But today, for the first time, they made a sound.
Because of the maid whose eyes were emptier than their own, they felt fear for the first time—and made a sound.
Unable to retreat, they drew their daggers and moved one step forward.
And then…
“You have approached.“
Lana recognized them as enemies.
At that moment, her long maid's skirt came off.
A short underskirt and two daggers hidden at her thighs were revealed.
She silently drew both daggers and prepared to welcome her guests.
”Princess…no, as Lord Calix's maid, I will eliminate you.“
At that moment, her profession changed from 『Maid』 to 『Assassin』.
In the quiet corridor, shadows began to collide.
* * *
The three intruders split up and charged at her.
However superior she was to them as an assassin, she was still alone.
Even if they suffered a few casualties, there would be no problem as long as they completed their mission.
The lead intruder intended to complete the mission even at the cost of his own life—but he witnessed an unbelievable sight.
A dagger she had thrown was flying past the side of his head.
“……!”
What shocked him was not merely that she had thrown the dagger at a speed he could not see, nor that it had passed beside his head.
He felt certain that her dagger had pierced the head of the comrade behind him.
He could not see or hear it, but the comrade who had been behind him moments ago was dead.
Sensing that, the lead intruder charged at her without slowing down.
His comrade had died, but thanks to that, the weapons in her hands had been reduced by half.
The two remaining intruders began charging at her, certain that they would die if they did not seize this opportunity.
Whoosh-! Whoosh!! Whoosh-!
The sound of wind began to fill the quiet corridor.
Their daggers swept through the spots where her daggers had been, stirring the air.
Without allowing a single one of each other's attacks to land, they performed a silent dance beneath the moonlight.
Who was the most surprised by that exchange?
She had entered the Empire's finest academy and earned the highest marks as an assassin, yet she was astonished by the skill of those who could match her in this exchange.
And the intruders, who had succeeded in countless missions from the shadows, were likewise astonished by her ability to silently evade their attacks despite being a woman.
That was why they knew.
With the next move—the move that broke this balance—one side or the other would die.
And it was the intruders who shattered the balance first.
Squelch-!
The sound of flesh being pierced echoed through the quiet corridor, and surprise spread across Lana's face for an instant.
One of the intruders had thrown himself onto Lana's dagger and stabbed himself.
This was their ‘move.’
There were two of them, and it did not matter which one survived as long as one of them completed the mission.
Seeing that their comrade's sacrifice had created an opening in Lana's defense, the remaining intruder charged at her.
Having killed countless people as an assassin, he began to see the line.
A black line that led others surely to their deaths appeared, and now that line had formed at her neck.
He swung his dagger toward that line.
But at that moment…she vanished before his eyes.
“!!!?”
His confident attack cut through empty air. At the instant he saw the comrade she had stabbed, the intruder felt death approaching from behind.
Squelch-!
“Cough!”
A metal blade drove in toward his heart, slipping past his spine.
Clinging desperately to his consciousness as it grew darker, he turned around.
There he saw her, along with his comrade, who had died with her dagger buried in his forehead.
From the faint mana he sensed in the dagger that had pierced his heart and the position of his comrade, whose forehead had been pierced, he began to understand what had happened to him.
This was Lana's blessing, <Dagger of Leap>.
Its effect was to make Lana leap to the location of her dagger—in other words, it was a teleportation ability.
It was simple, but in assassinations and close-quarters combat, where life and death crossed paths within 0.1 seconds, it was a blessing of absolute power, and together with her talent, it had allowed her to earn the highest marks in the academy's Assassination Department.
As his consciousness faded, the intruder lamented his foolishness in entering the battle without considering that she might possess such a blessing, and then he breathed his last.
“May you…be happy in your next life…”
Looking at the fallen intruders, Lana prayed for the repose of their souls.
* * *
After dealing with the intruders, Lana fell into thought.
She had sensed the assassins and stepped out to protect her lord, but she had never told him about this side of her abilities.
There were two main reasons she had not mentioned her assassination abilities.
The first was that Her Highness the Princess had told her to keep them secret, and the second was that, although she did not know why herself, she did not want to tell Lord Calix.
In that situation, she found herself troubled as she looked at the three corpses before her.
If dawn came and it was revealed that she had dealt with the assassins, things might become troublesome.
At worst, she might be sent back to Her Highness the Princess and might not even be able to continue as a teacher, and the thought made her head spin.
‘I don't want to leave this place… I have to find a way.’
As she considered a good solution, Lana looked toward Calix's bedroom.
Then she remembered that she ought to give him an apology gift, and a very good idea occurred to her.
Without hesitation, she put that idea into action.
* * *
An apple in the morning is good medicine.
Because of the eating habits I'd developed in my previous life, I started each morning by peeling and eating an apple alone in my room.
That day, too, I woke before the maid came in and, still half-asleep, began peeling and eating an apple with a paring knife.
But then…
“Aaaaaah!!!!”
A scream came from outside.
What was that scream so early in the morning!?
Startled, I opened the door and went out, still holding the paring knife.
“What happened!?”
“M…My lord! Over there…”
“Over there?…Oh, damn! You startled me.”
When I went outside, Maid Julia stood there, trembling in shock.
And when I looked in the direction she was pointing, I saw three corpses that looked like assassins.
The assassin bastards in black clothes and black masks were covered in stab wounds and red blood, apparently having died after a fierce battle.
Perhaps they had heard the scream, because the guards came running over as well.
“My lord!!”
“Are you all right!?”
They looked as though they had rushed over in a panic, and their startled expressions showed concern for my safety.
I was about to tell them that I was fine, but they shouted first.
“My lord! There's blood on your clothes!!”
“What, blood?…Oh, damn! What is this now!?”
Hearing that, I looked down at myself.
My pajamas had somehow become soaked through with blood and were dyed red.
No! Fuck, what is this!?”
Why had my pajamas turned into a sea of blood overnight?
While I stood there in confusion, the guards stared at me with astonished expressions and said:
“Could it be that those assassins…”
“Did you catch them, my lord?”
“What!?”
Dead assassins, blood-soaked pajamas, and a paring knife.
Seeing those things, the guards seemed to have reached the following conclusion.
I had caught the assassins with a paring knife.
…As if that were possible!
I desperately denied it.
“Of course not! I know nothing about this!”
“I see.”
“Understood. We'll officially handle it that way.”
The guards and Maid Julia nodded as if promising to keep the secret for their lord's sake.
No! It wasn't me!
You idiots! It really wasn't me!
And a few days later…
A song claiming that I had slaughtered assassins with a paring knife began circulating through the streets.
It really wasn't me… It was so unfair that I felt like I was going insane.