novelraw Chapter 153 : Chapter 153
Chapter 153 : Chapter 153
Chapter 153 : Rauel’s Intent
“You saw her?”
“Of course. Her features are quite rare in our kingdom, so I remember her clearly. How about it, should I tell you?”
The face of the middle-aged man, grinning sleazily and revealing a silver tooth, was not trustworthy, but I wordlessly took out a silver coin from my pocket and tossed it.
“Hey now, this is a little short.”
In exchange for a few words, I gave him enough money to stay at this shabby inn for three days, yet this was his attitude.
His smirking face showed exactly what he thought of me.
Heh.
“If that’s not enough, I’ll fill it with something else.”
Pang.
I drew the sword from my back and swung it in the air with one hand. The sound of the wind was accompanied by a drastic change in the man's expression.
“What do you think you’re…….”
Paaaaang.
“This kind of thing.”
Sakak.
A piece of cloth fluttered down as the sword I swung again grazed his shirt.
A performance of carving out a circle of cloth over his heart without leaving a single scratch on his skin.
This was a matter of martial skill, regardless of evolution level. Something only a master of the sword like Karina could do.
A feat I couldn't even imitate if not for 'Blade'.
Naturally, sweat began to pour down the silver-toothed man's face like rain.
“Ah. Ha. Haha…….”
“You should know that if you take someone for a fool, you can get fucked.”
His darting eyes told me.
That he had understood completely.
“H-hey. Let’s talk.”
“You said it wasn’t enough, right? Here, go buy some clothes.”
Ting.
I tossed another silver coin and raised my sword again.
“You’ll soon be strolling around naked in broad daylight.”
“It’s, it’s enough! I misspoke!”
A sense of sincerity finally began to show in the middle-aged man who frantically waved his hands and changed his expression.
“So? Where?”
“Well…….”
The answer I got from the silver-toothed man was quite unexpected.
“What kind of nonsense are you talking about……!”
“I-it’s true! I wasn’t the only one who saw it!”
My brow furrowed at his words.
“A woman lowered her veil in front of the knights, and out came brown skin, which is rare in our country! A h-half, no, a mixed-blood! It was really eye-catching!”
“What a load of bullshit…….”
I couldn’t listen anymore.
If Rauel had business with a noble in a rural place like this, she would have gone over the wall at night.
Regardless of whether it was good business or bad.
And yet.
“……She showed her face and went in through the front gate? Who does he think he’s fooling.”
“It-it’s true! Her eyes, her gray, gray eyes! I-I saw them clearly! She was also quite thin!”
I couldn’t help but pause at those words that suddenly popped out.
“What?”
“……Gray eyes are a ch-characteristic of our royal family, right? That’s why it stuck in my memory even more. I even imagined if one of the royals had fallen for a blackie…….”
“What, you punk!?”
“Heek!? S-sorry!”
My hand went to my sword before I knew it, but seeing the silver-toothed man begging for his life, I could only sigh.
‘What’s wrong with me……?’
I knew that most northerners held such thoughts about Rauel’s skin color and race.
I seemed to be overreacting to it.
“……Fine. I’ll check. But if it’s false information, you’d better be prepared.”
“It-it’s really true! Not just me, Tomo saw it too!”
“……Get lost.”
“Hiiik!”
Though I threatened him at the end, I already believed the man had told the truth.
It was just a finishing touch to show a mercenary-like attitude, but seeing him scurry back into the inn, I felt like I had done something unnecessary.
‘If he goes around blabbering and draws attention……. No, no. I just need to find Rauel and get out of here before that.’
I had no intention of wasting much time in a rural territory like this anyway.
With that thought, my steps began to quicken.
But there was a problem.
‘How do I get in?’
I thought that with the name of the Black Knight, which the king was so clamorously elevating, most nobles would meet me, but this was openly Aslan's territory.
A family I was already on bad terms with.
If I revealed my identity, it was as clear as day that duel requests would follow, or assassination attempts would come one after another.
“Tsk…….”
But I wasn’t confident in going undercover.
My weight, which had already gracefully surpassed that of a human, was fine for breaking through or holding my ground, but it was far too unsuitable for 'stealthy movements'.
“Still…….”
Since there was no suitable alternative, I had to go and see.
With the thought of scaling the inner castle wall at night if necessary, I began to walk towards a place where I could see the small wall inside the city.
The narrow-looking wall, befitting a small city, suggested that the inner castle wouldn't be very large, but its height was greater than usual.
‘Come to think of it, it's strange for an inner castle to even be in a place like this.’
A small city in the southeast, not built as a fortress like Drasen.
It would seem more typical for there to be no distinction between an inner and outer castle, but Raun had a narrow and high inner castle wall.
‘Is it a family with a somewhat reclusive tradition?’
Tilting my head, I approached the inner castle.
I circled the inner castle without being obvious, acting like a foreigner sightseeing in a new city.
In that short time, just looking from a distance, I felt something was off.
‘Huh?’
Not only was there only one gate to the inner castle, but its width was also quite narrow.
I felt the familiar scent of home.
“A fortress……?”
The moment I unconsciously approached a little closer.
One of the knights guarding the inner castle gate shouted.
“Hey, are you a mercenary?”
“Ah……. Yes!”
“Access to the inner castle is forbidden. If you need something, go to the market!”
“Ah, I understand. I’m new to this place…….”
Was the feeling of them being overly guarded a mistake?
I turned my back to the inner castle gate and pretended to go to the market, then went around to the opposite side.
I reached the wall on the opposite side of the gate.
At that moment, a chilling sensation began to creep in.
‘What? What is this!’
I almost let out an exclamation of annoyance.
The presence inside, felt upon approaching the base of the wall. No, to be precise, the movement of metal.
‘Blades, arrowheads, daggers, thr……owing stars? Why are there so many!’
My sensitive sense of smell couldn't even detect a faint scent, yet beyond the wall, dozens, hundreds of metal objects were moving rhythmically.
It felt as if ghosts were carrying only weapons.
And I had felt a similar sensation in Ironheart before.
‘Assassins…….’
A chill went down my spine.
And it seemed like I could understand at once why Rauel had come here.
‘This is…….’
It had to be the headquarters, or something like a base, for the Aslan family’s assassins.
But if that was the case…….
‘Why did Rauel reveal her face and enter here?’
It was an action hard to comprehend unless she was planning to commit suicide.
Just as my mind began to fall into confusion again.
I started to hear a strange sound.
‘Hmm?’
A commotion from the far north, at the outer castle gate.
- Aslan…….
At the faintly heard words, my eyes, looking in that direction, began to shine.
* * *
Inside the lord's residence in the inner castle of Raun.
“Has that wench still not opened her mouth?”
As the middle-aged man sitting at the office desk asked with a frown, the elderly steward standing in attendance answered as if he had been waiting.
“She just keeps repeating that she will see the Duke and speak to him directly.”
“What nonsense. Ha……. How frustrating. I suppose torture is out of the question?”
“As I've said, if her words happen to be true, it could backfire on you, Baron. You know how His Excellency the Duke is clear about merits and faults.”
“But we don’t even know the exact details of that information!”
“The secret about the deal between the Black Knight, the Dragon Sword Duke, and the royal family. The topic she mentioned alone is enough to make His Excellency prick up his ears right now.”
“Damn it! What about truth serum?”
“As you know, the side effects are significant.”
Kkadeudeuk.
The baron gnashed his teeth in frustration.
“Ha…… If her words are false and I let her see His Excellency, a major incident will occur.”
He was stuck between a rock and a hard place.
Oli Roster, the lord of Raun and the manager of the Aslan family's 'Dagger', felt like his insides were burning.
“I can’t let her meet him, and I can’t torture her either…….”
“For now, we have no choice but to starve her like this.”
“……How long do you think she can last?”
“Rauel is a 4-Star Corporeal Arts user, known to have traits optimized for an assassin. So, it's right to assume she can last at least three weeks, no, a month without food.”
“……So that’s how it is.”
Tok. Tok.
Only the sound of tapping on the desk echoed in the silent room.
Then, a moment later.
“……Fine. Reduce her water too.”
“Pardon?”
“Let’s try to coax her again when she’s on the brink of death. Tell her that if she reveals the secret, we’ll report it directly to His Excellency.”
“But…….”
“Tell her we’ll accept that Ghost’s Bow or whatever it is too!”
The steward’s expression hardened even more at those words.
“……She won’t believe it.”
“What can she do even if she doesn’t believe it? Do you think she can make a rational judgment right before she dies of starvation!?”
The steward, Alex, could only bow his head in response to the baron’s shouting.
Of course, what he thought inwardly was different.
The assassins of the Dagger were trained to make cool-headed judgments in any situation.
‘She is the best among those who received such training, Baron.’
It was a thought he could have because he was the one who had personally trained the abandoned children.
“A traitor is a traitor. We can’t just play into a traitor’s hands!”
……It was the family that betrayed first.
The steward had no choice but to swallow those words.
‘Trying to abandon her was a mistake in itself. It should not have been done.’
He had submitted a report when Rauel had her third evolution at the age of fifteen.
That we might be nurturing a talent that could reach Seven-Star as an assassin.
Of course, the higher-ups had just laughed off his report.
That made it even more regrettable.
‘Why on earth did you come back.’
If she had left the family, she should have just flown away and lived freely.
For what reason…….
- Please persuade the baron, mister. I’ll consider my debt to you repaid with that.
Her face, as she addressed him with the title from when he first saw her as a child, was calm.
But he knew that wasn’t all.
Having trained Rauel for over a decade, he could sense what ulterior motive she was hiding behind that expressionless face.
Even though she should know well that the head of the Aslan family, Duke Lenok Aslan, was by no means an easy person.
‘It was as if she believed that just getting into the main house was enough…….’
It was clear that Rauel had changed somewhere after leaving the family.
And that it was close to the direction he had hoped for.
But.
‘……I’m sorry. I don’t have the ability to help you.’
Alex, no, the assassination instructor who had grown accustomed to his role for decades, lacked the will to break that habit.
‘If Rauel doesn’t open her mouth, the baron will have no choice but to report to His Excellency in the end.’
All he could do was bow his head, swallowing that thought.
But just then.
- Tang. Tang. Tang!
The sound of urgent knocking on the door was heard.
Udangtangtang.
A knight burst in as the door opened as if it would break.
“What do you think you’re……!?”
“Your Lordship! Someone has come from the main house!”
“……What?”
“Th-they said they know the traitor has come to us, and the first and second young masters have come simultaneously with their elites!”
At those words, the baron’s face instantly turned white.
‘Crazy……!’
Even now, with Aslan’s position narrowed due to the incident involving the servants of evil, the first and second princes were fiercely competing for merits to secure the position of successor.
In the midst of that, a person who could be the biggest catch had appeared, so it wouldn’t be strange for them to come, dropping everything else.
But.
‘How did they know……. Ah!’
In his bewilderment, he remembered the situation from ten days ago when Rauel first appeared.
“Don’t tell me, that wench was aiming for this……!?”
The baron gnashed his teeth as he recalled Rauel’s behavior of revealing her face from the inner castle’s main gate.