Chapter 48
Before I knew it, my body was already moving.
I leaped from the roof and landed in the back alley without making a sound. Even using 【Enhanced Vision】, 【Night Vision】, 【Enhanced Hearing】, and 【Enhanced Smell】, I sensed no one else nearby, so it was safe to assume there were only five assassins.
I didn't know whether this nobleman was an utterly vile person, but I had merely "felt" that this was the right thing to do.
"First bolt. This one is for Viscount Noog, whom you destroyed."
"Urgh."
The weapon in the assassin's hands was a crossbow. It was easy to carry and highly accurate.
When the bolt was fired, it pierced the nobleman's left hand and passed through his palm. His face twisted with pain, but the nobleman still showed no emotion.
"Hmph. So even the blood flowing through the 'Cold-Blooded Lord' is red."
By the time they nocked the next bolt, I was already ten meters behind them.
The nobleman had surely noticed me when I suddenly appeared, but he didn't even turn his gaze toward me, let alone change his expression.
...What an incredible person.
The problem was how to take down all five of them. If I made even one mistake, professional assassins would kill the nobleman before they could flee or intercept me. If that happened, there would have been no point in my coming out here.
I didn't need huge magic to incapacitate people. Besides, the assassins were close to the nobleman now, so using a powerful spell would catch him in the blast as well.
I clenched my hand into a fist and began counting from one.
(One, two, three...)
A black rock the size of a ping-pong ball appeared at my fingertip. It was the most basic of basic Earth Magic spells, called Stone Bullet—but normally, that spell only created and fired one.
Besides, the rock it normally produced was gray. I made mine black by imitating the assassins.
(Four, five...)
Creating rocks on all five fingertips and keeping them manifested required extraordinary magical control. Even veteran mages were said to manage three at most.
"!"
For the first time, the nobleman's face registered surprise.
(Ah, I see. So that's what he looks like when he's surprised. I thought he might not have any humanity in him, but I'm glad that's not the case—)
But if you change your expression like that, of course you'll be noticed.
"Hm...? No way—reinforcements—gah!"
I immediately fired all five Stone Bullets. Just as I'd calculated, they slammed into the backs of the assassins' heads as if drawn toward them, knocking them unconscious.
I actually wanted to do this with 【Fire Magic】 and call it 'Finger Flare Bombs.' Nobody in this world knew it, and I doubt anyone around me knew it even back in Japan. The Adventure of Dai is the best.
"..."
The nobleman was staring blankly after I silenced the assassins in an instant.
Hmm. Up close, he was frighteningly handsome.
By contrast, I was dressed in a patched-up cloth outfit I wouldn't mind tearing during training, with a hand towel hanging around my neck—a real hand-to-mouth sort of look.
Even if people overlooked the unusual blackness of my eyes, my blue-gray hair wouldn't attract much attention, since that was a common color in this world. Incidentally, it was blue-gray simply because I had made hair dye from materials available here, following what Mimino-san had taught me, and it had turned out this color.
"Who are you?"
He even had a handsome voice. So the saying that God doesn't give a person everything was a lie.
"I'm just a cleaner passing by. Ah, your companions seem to be merely immobilized by paralytic poison, so their lives aren't in danger. The attackers... probably won't wake up for about an hour, but I'll tie their arms just in case."
According to 【All Creation】, the fallen knight and coachman were fine. Incidentally, this knight wasn't a member of the Holy King's Knights, where I worked as a cleaner. He was probably a knight hired directly by this nobleman.
I efficiently removed the assassins' masks, pulled their arms behind their backs, and tied them up with the cloth.
"Well then, I'll be going."
I didn't need anything in return, let alone words of thanks. I intended to leave the scene as quickly as possible.
Even though it was the middle of the night, nearby residents would soon notice something was wrong, and being questioned would delay my cleaning work the next morning.
...That was just the pretext.
(Man, this guy's scary.)
Even when he was on the verge of being killed, he hadn't let his emotions waver, and he was still staring intently at me.
I had a feeling it wasn't a good idea to stay near him.
"Who are you?"
He repeated the same question as before.
"I'm just a cleaner passing by. Well then."
I felt that unless I said something, he'd keep asking the same question forever, so I gave him that answer and quickly ran off. Since I'd run at full speed, he shouldn't be able to follow—
So, as rescue scenes go, it wasn't especially dramatic.
The problem was what came next.
A few days later, one afternoon, I was summoned by the dorm supervisor of the Holy King's Knights' 18th Unit.
"Ah, Cleaner Boy. Sorry to summon you all this way."
The dorm supervisor, a chubby man with a little mustache and a kindly appearance, told me.
"Count Suilies wishes to hire you for some 'cleaning.'"
A nobleman wanted me to clean?
"I suppose the fame of the 'Legendary Cleaner' has reached the aristocracy. Hahahaha."
"Oh, so that sort of thing actually happens?"
"It probably does. Most of the knights here are related by blood to nobles. If they talked about you when they returned to their families, it would be entirely possible."
"I see... Is that how it works?"
In short, I'd let my guard down.
So, dressed as a cleaner, I was led to an enormous mansion that made me think, "A museum?" The nobleman I had rescued a few days earlier was there.
The balcony was bright, with several enormous panes of single-sheet glass. How much had it cost to obtain glass so uniformly thin and free of impurities and bubbles? The count, seated on scarlet cushions at a white table surrounded by white chairs, was elegantly sipping tea while looking over some documents. He looked like a painting. Well, there were two knights standing rigidly behind him, and three more behind me. Ah, one of the two knights behind the count was the one who had been there during the attack.
Unlike the Holy King's Knights, the knights hired independently by nobles looked different. The Holy King's Knights used a dazzling bright blue—the Holy King's symbol. These knights wore scarlet cloaks and white-painted metal armor. They hadn't been wearing them that night, but they were wearing them now... Did that mean the attack had put them on higher alert?
Since nothing in this world was manufactured by machines, every piece of equipment was a unique handmade item. The fact that this nobleman could afford so many meant he was unbelievably wealthy.
Of course, the Holy King's Knights' equipment cost even more, but it was made with tax money.
When the count noticed me, he parted his thin lips.
"Thank you for saving my life the other day. I am grateful."
"...What are you talking about?"
As for me, I had no reason not to be wary of someone who had tracked me down with so little information.
"I came because I was told you wanted to hire me for cleaning. But the inside of the mansion is spotless, the trees in the garden have been beautifully pruned, and the knights' armor is maintained to a brilliant shine. It seems there is nothing for me to do here."
"I want to ask you to guard my daughter."
Whoa, this conversation isn't lining up at all!