Four simultaneous attacks—a silence dominates around us. But eventually—
「But you know, you and Chancellor Madison are making a move. There’s no way you’ve just been sitting around doing nothing, right?」
When I think about it carefully, it makes sense. It wouldn’t be surprising at all if Anon and his people had some kind of countermeasure in place.
Anon exhales deeply at my question.
「Of course—I’d like to say that, but honestly, this time I can’t really say things are going well. The fact that attacks are happening at multiple locations simultaneously is one factor, but what’s really complicating the situation is that among those suspected to be assassins, there’s an extremely troublesome individual mixed in.」
「Who exactly?」
「Most of the hired assassins are from this country. However, there are apparently two from the Lionel Empire. Those two are the problem. They’re assassins who’ve rapidly made a name for themselves over the past two years, and their background and abilities remain completely unknown. But because the people they’ve assassinated include quite a number of powerful individuals, their abilities are considered to be extremely high.」
「About those two specifically—have you figured out how skilled they are and what their concrete abilities might be?」
「The two assassins—it’s inconvenient to keep calling them that, so let’s refer to them as ‘Unknown’ for now. As for how skilled they are, among those they’ve assassinated, there were apparently individuals equivalent to S-rank adventurers.」
「Oh, man…」
That’s quite… no, that’s seriously bad news.
「So far, no one targeted by them has survived—which means, regarding their specific abilities… we can only speculate to a certain extent.」
It’s a common episode for skilled assassins in fiction, but when faced with the possibility of confronting them yourself, it would be a lie to say I’m not scared at all. To begin with, from my perspective, I can’t understand the mentality that allows someone to kill people so easily.
「First, there are almost no signs of combat at the assassination sites, and the victims’ bodies are uniformly found in a severely damaged state, likely having been tortured to death. From this, we can deduce several things. First, the ‘Unknown’ don’t kill their targets in one go but torture them, meaning they’re sadistic bastards. And then—」
That’s right. Anon sees through everything.
「When considering whether combat took place or not, if there was no combat, then the ‘Unknown’ likely possess ‘an ability that incapacitates the opponent in a single strike.’ If they indiscriminately wounded an incapacitated opponent regardless of whether they were alive or dead, that would be somewhat consistent with the situation. Though the question remains whether it’s possible to approach a powerful person without making a sound and land that strike… well, this could still be considered a proper assassin.」
Anon implied something more.
「Now, let’s consider the case where combat did occur between the ‘Unknown’ and the victims. In that case, for the past two years, despite there being combat, the ‘Unknown’ managed to go completely unnoticed by anyone around, and on top of that, tortured their opponents to death. This scenario is just too inexplicable.」
That’s certainly true. Fighting without making noise is nearly impossible. When a person moves, making sound is unavoidable.
「Torture-killing takes time. Nevertheless, at assassination sites where things should be accomplished in an extremely short time, they deliberately took the time to torture and kill their targets. So we can deduce that they have an ability that allows them to remain undetected for extended periods. When you hear about an ability to remain undetected, what kind of ability do you imagine, Ichiro?」
「Sound-proofing…? Or maybe, concealing their presence?」
Anon mutters, 「Hmm.」
「I considered those possibilities too. But sound-proofing alone would be far too weak. Even if you block sound, there’s still a chance someone might see you…」
And, he continues.
「Even with an ability to conceal one’s presence or that of the target, it’s still quite difficult to believe that no one around noticed anything when they were engaged in combat with someone of S-rank caliber rather than choosing to assassinate them instantly.」
「Then—」
Is it natural to think that the ‘Unknown’ have been eliminating their targets with a single strike without engaging in combat?
「No, there is a way to make this situation possible. No traces of combat were left at the scenes where the victims were. So it would be natural to assume that no combat took place, but—there’s another possibility to consider.」
I couldn’t figure it out.
「The ‘Unknown’ transported themselves and their assassination targets to a different location—specifically, to a closed space where escape would be difficult. They fought there, disposed of their targets, and subsequently returned them to the original location. If we consider this, the absence of combat traces at the scene, the time they had to torture the victims, and the fact that no one around noticed anything can all be explained without contradiction.」
So, Anon continued.
「Most likely, the ability of the ‘Unknown’ is either ‘something that can approach any strong enemy undetected and kill them in a single strike’ or ‘something that can teleport the opponent somewhere.’」
In the end, this is all we know—Anon said self-deprecatingly. I shook my head.
「You’re amazing, Anon. I could never do that.」
If it were just me, the only future I could see would be charging in with all my might in a ‘go for broke’ spirit. That’s actually how I’ve lived until now.
「So, should I take those guys down?」
At my question, Anon leaned forward for a moment, then restrained himself and stayed in place.
「I’m sorry, Ichiro. Please forgive me for not being able to say ‘lend me your hand’ with my own mouth, even at this point.」
And then, once more—
「Ichiro, I need your help.」
He told me with a somewhat anxious atmosphere. My answer to that was,
「Of course. Leave it to me.」
There’s no way I would refuse a request from Anon.
If you enjoy it and wish to see more, please consider giving it a 5-star rating for the series on NU. Click Here.
Check out my Patreon for early access to upcoming updates. Patreon Link
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Chapter 281
○○○
Four simultaneous attacks—a silence dominates around us.
But eventually—
「But you know, you and Chancellor Madison are making a move. There’s no way you’ve just been sitting around doing nothing, right?」
When I think about it carefully, it makes sense.
It wouldn’t be surprising at all if Anon and his people had some kind of countermeasure in place.
Anon exhales deeply at my question.
「Of course—I’d like to say that, but honestly, this time I can’t really say things are going well.
The fact that attacks are happening at multiple locations simultaneously is one factor, but what’s really complicating the situation is that among those suspected to be assassins, there’s an extremely troublesome individual mixed in.」
「Who exactly?」
「Most of the hired assassins are from this country. However, there are apparently two from the Lionel Empire. Those two are the problem.
They’re assassins who’ve rapidly made a name for themselves over the past two years, and their background and abilities remain completely unknown. But because the people they’ve assassinated include quite a number of powerful individuals, their abilities are considered to be extremely high.」
「About those two specifically—have you figured out how skilled they are and what their concrete abilities might be?」
「The two assassins—it’s inconvenient to keep calling them that, so let’s refer to them as ‘Unknown’ for now. As for how skilled they are, among those they’ve assassinated, there were apparently individuals equivalent to S-rank adventurers.」
「Oh, man…」
That’s quite… no, that’s seriously bad news.
「So far, no one targeted by them has survived—which means, regarding their specific abilities… we can only speculate to a certain extent.」
It’s a common episode for skilled assassins in fiction, but when faced with the possibility of confronting them yourself, it would be a lie to say I’m not scared at all. To begin with, from my perspective, I can’t understand the mentality that allows someone to kill people so easily.
「First, there are almost no signs of combat at the assassination sites, and the victims’ bodies are uniformly found in a severely damaged state, likely having been tortured to death.
From this, we can deduce several things.
First, the ‘Unknown’ don’t kill their targets in one go but torture them, meaning they’re sadistic bastards. And then—」
That’s right. Anon sees through everything.
「When considering whether combat took place or not, if there was no combat, then the ‘Unknown’ likely possess ‘an ability that incapacitates the opponent in a single strike.’ If they indiscriminately wounded an incapacitated opponent regardless of whether they were alive or dead, that would be somewhat consistent with the situation. Though the question remains whether it’s possible to approach a powerful person without making a sound and land that strike… well, this could still be considered a proper assassin.」
Anon implied something more.
「Now, let’s consider the case where combat did occur between the ‘Unknown’ and the victims. In that case, for the past two years, despite there being combat, the ‘Unknown’ managed to go completely unnoticed by anyone around, and on top of that, tortured their opponents to death. This scenario is just too inexplicable.」
That’s certainly true.
Fighting without making noise is nearly impossible.
When a person moves, making sound is unavoidable.
「Torture-killing takes time. Nevertheless, at assassination sites where things should be accomplished in an extremely short time, they deliberately took the time to torture and kill their targets.
So we can deduce that they have an ability that allows them to remain undetected for extended periods.
When you hear about an ability to remain undetected, what kind of ability do you imagine, Ichiro?」
「Sound-proofing…? Or maybe, concealing their presence?」
Anon mutters, 「Hmm.」
「I considered those possibilities too. But sound-proofing alone would be far too weak. Even if you block sound, there’s still a chance someone might see you…」
And, he continues.
「Even with an ability to conceal one’s presence or that of the target, it’s still quite difficult to believe that no one around noticed anything when they were engaged in combat with someone of S-rank caliber rather than choosing to assassinate them instantly.」
「Then—」
Is it natural to think that the ‘Unknown’ have been eliminating their targets with a single strike without engaging in combat?
「No, there is a way to make this situation possible.
No traces of combat were left at the scenes where the victims were.
So it would be natural to assume that no combat took place, but—there’s another possibility to consider.」
I couldn’t figure it out.
「The ‘Unknown’ transported themselves and their assassination targets to a different location—specifically, to a closed space where escape would be difficult. They fought there, disposed of their targets, and subsequently returned them to the original location.
If we consider this, the absence of combat traces at the scene, the time they had to torture the victims, and the fact that no one around noticed anything can all be explained without contradiction.」
So, Anon continued.
「Most likely, the ability of the ‘Unknown’ is either ‘something that can approach any strong enemy undetected and kill them in a single strike’ or ‘something that can teleport the opponent somewhere.’」
In the end, this is all we know—Anon said self-deprecatingly.
I shook my head.
「You’re amazing, Anon. I could never do that.」
If it were just me, the only future I could see would be charging in with all my might in a ‘go for broke’ spirit. That’s actually how I’ve lived until now.
「So, should I take those guys down?」
At my question, Anon leaned forward for a moment, then restrained himself and stayed in place.
「I’m sorry, Ichiro.
Please forgive me for not being able to say ‘lend me your hand’ with my own mouth, even at this point.」
And then, once more—
「Ichiro, I need your help.」
He told me with a somewhat anxious atmosphere.
My answer to that was,
「Of course. Leave it to me.」
There’s no way I would refuse a request from Anon.
If you enjoy it and wish to see more, please consider giving it a 5-star rating for the series on NU. Click Here.
Check out my Patreon for early access to upcoming updates. Patreon Link
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