I closed my eyes.
I could feel the irritation crawling up from within.
This was the problem with being in the middle of nowhere, far from the capital. The name “Dante Hiakapo” held no weight here. If I were at the palace or at least the royal capital, the gates would’ve opened without question.
If Count Kahla was the king of the south, then this bastard must think of himself as some kind of royal aide.
“In a village, the magistrate is the king.”
That truth hit me again.
“If you’ve got nothing to show, then get lost.”
It’d be troublesome to get into a fight here.
If I, the only solution to this mess, got on bad terms with the count’s house, then the Vomiteca War would sink into chaos.
I turned without responding.
“Let’s try the other stair fortress.”
“Yes, sir.”
I had to get to the top floor somehow and meet the count.
And then find the Hero.
Scene #6 – I Guess This Is Training Too! ◀
At that moment, when the Dante Assassination Squad opened their eyes, they found themselves in some unfamiliar mountain.
“...Where the hell are we?”
Gray scratched her cheek.
Gray, who usually only moved within spaces she could perceive, looked thoroughly annoyed.
Meanwhile, Balmung and Elize were sniffing around various parts of the forest. Then Balmung seemed to realize something.
“This is the Count’s mountain.”
“...The Count?”
Balmung pushed up his jet-black horn-rimmed glasses.
“Yeah. This is Mount Kahla, in the southern region of Hiaka. Looks like we’ve been summoned here for some reason.”
“...Why?”
“How the hell would I know.”
Elize came down from a tree she'd been scoping out. Her expression looked a bit gloomy.
“Mm... The smell’s not clear here.”
“There are a lot of Luzten trees in the Lewiyan region. Since they store moisture for winter, their scent tends to overpower everything else.”
“Eh...? And the comms are cut too.”
“Right. It’s a frustrating situation. I doubt we came here on our own....”
We were flat-out [summoned] with no context.
Meteor storms smashed our comms, and Elize couldn’t get a scent reading.
On top of that, far off in the distance, a translucent vertical wall flickered upward into the sky.
Why the hell were we brought here?
While Gray, Balmung, and Elize stewed in confusion—
“Uuurgh.”
Kendreik suddenly started walking off somewhere.
“Where are you going, you idiot.”
“Uuurgh.”
“What the hell does ‘uuurgh’ even mean?”
“Uuurgh.”
The three of them glanced at each other and decided to follow for now.
Because in movies or whatever, it’s always guys like Kendreik who somehow stumble upon the answer no one else can see.
Following him into the woods, they found a beehive.
“Uuurgh.”
Without warning, Kendreik reached out and poked the hive.
Drizzle.
It was delicious honey.
BUUUZZZZZ!!
Naturally, the owners got pissed.
The bees swarmed the Dante Assassination Squad.
“AAAAAAHHH!!”
“Why the hell would you poke that, you lunatic!?”
“Goddamn it, you bastard! Shit!”
They all scrambled to run.
With his face puffed up from bee stings, Kendreik closed his eyes and thoughtfully savored the taste and aroma of the honey.
Then he said seriously:
“Uuurgh (★★☆☆☆).”
What the hell does that even mean!? Are you a gourmet now, you bastard!?
Smack!
Balmung smacked him in the head.
“...Eh?”
It was when they’d just barely escaped and were sitting to catch their breath.
Suddenly, something clicked in Gray’s mind.
“What’s wrong, Gray?”
“...Hey, all of you, come here. Do you remember what Professor said right before we got dragged here?”
“What?”
“Huh?”
The three tried to recall.
That one thing Dante said while constantly chewing them out.
— You can’t even begin to imagine how much training I’ve got prepared for you.
The timing was suspicious.
“Huh...?”
Then Elize suddenly jumped to her feet.
“I think this is part of the training!”
I mean, Professor Dante is a professor of [Illusion Arts], right? If he was behind it, it would make a certain kind of sense that they’d wake up in an unfamiliar place and find the comms tower destroyed.
“What? Hold on a second.”
Balmung cut in.
“Training? But no one told us anything.”
Gray responded.
“The comms tower just blew up, didn’t it? So the ‘scenario’ is that there’s been a terrorist attack. What would an assassin from Hiaka be expected to do here?”
Oh?
That actually sounded pretty convincing.
Balmung nodded.
“...We should put on the masks. Like it’s live training.”
So the four of them put on their Dante Assassination Squad activity masks (the elephant masks) and headed to the staircase fortress of Mount Kahla.
There, they encountered the fortress commander standing atop the wall.
“Who the hell are you lot?”
“We are the Dante Assassination Squad. We’ve been dispatched from the capital as emergency relief for this situation.”
“Dante Assassination Squad? Pfft... You’ve gotta be shitting me.”
The commander’s reaction was strange.
He snorted and turned to laugh with his fellow officers.
Then he said something that ruined their entire mood.
“What? That bastard’s trying to use his little brats now?”
“...Excuse me?”
“Must’ve lost his pride, huh? Got kicked out and now he’s sending his kids over. Pathetic.”
“Are you saying Professor Dante is already here?”
“Well I’ll be damned. You assassins don’t even communicate with each other? That’s why you lot keep getting your asses kicked by Kreutz.”
The fortress commander clicked his tongue.
“Also, who the hell designed those masks? Ugly as sin.”
“...What?”
Balmung asked, feeling the blood drain from his face.
Because it was Professor Dante who personally made them.
“Anyway, piss off. Bugs like you keep crawling around the south. You’re not getting into our domain.”
The elephant masks turned to look at one another.
“...What now?”
Elize asked.
Gray scratched her ear, then muttered:
“...Maybe this is part of the training too?”
Oooh? That actually sounded possible too. This was how it goes in real operations, wasn’t it? Assassins need good judgment. Clients try to dodge payment all the time. Sometimes relief efforts are blocked. Sometimes assassins get used as scapegoats. When that happens, smart decision-making is required.
Then...
What should we do?
The four elephants turned their heads toward the fortress.
From here, the job of an assassin was simple.
Schwing...
Elize wordlessly drew the blade at her hip.
Scene #7 – Save Kaiser!! ◀
The timing was uncanny.
A few hours earlier, Kaiser had arrived at Count Kahla’s domain from the neighboring Lewiyan viscounty.
His objective was to recruit the reclusive eccentric and former head professor known as “Moong” into the ranks of the [Domination Society❆]. (Truthfully, he really hadn’t wanted to come... 😭)
“Why ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) should I grant your request?”
But the baronet who housed Moong was putting on airs in front of Kaiser. He demanded money, then raised the amount twice mid-discussion.
“I’m telling you, not a chance unless you pay. You think we should hand over our sage for free to some gangster bastards?”
This was the meeting of a gangster and a noble.
Kaiser bowed his head solemnly.
“...Please. I promise to use his talents for a righteous cause. If it’s about the fee, perhaps we can negotiate...”
“I told you. It’s 300 million Hika.”
“...That’s an excessive amount.”
“What’s excessive? I heard you’re doing great in Lewiyan lately. Didn’t you take out the drug rings there? Surely you can scrape together 300 million.”
“...I’ve shut down all illegal drug operations.”
“So what? Start again. Bring me 300 million Hika. Then I’ll hand over our sage.”
The baronet’s guards snickered beside him.
“......”
Kaiser knew instinctively. The man had no intention of handing Moong over. Even if Kaiser brought the money, he’d just raise the price to 500 million.
This noble was just enjoying his elevated status, sneering down at Kaiser for unifying the southern Black Abyss division.
Kaiser’s subordinates from the [Domination Society❆] started to stiffen. It was humiliating.
“Domination what? Don’t make me laugh. Do you know how many half-baked upstart factions tried to claim some new star before you?”
“......”
“No cash, then get lost.”
The baronet was the count’s younger brother.
Which meant the king of the south... and his blood kin. No wonder he looked down on gangsters.
Kaiser, however, knew exactly what to do.
He opened his mouth in a low voice.
“...Baronet Modrio.”
“What?”
“...You have no respect for the Domination Society.”
“Haah? So what? Huh?”
Kaiser leaned on his staff and slowly rose to his feet.
His voice calm, his gaze lowered, he declared:
“...In that case, I suppose... there’s no helping it.”
—I’ll have to give up.
The Moong recruitment had been a half-baked idea from a team meeting anyway. Kaiser had no real interest in it. He wasn’t the type to cling to the impossible.
He made up his mind to let it go. But just as he opened his mouth to say “forget it”—
The world suddenly turned white.
Huh?
Huhhh?
The nobles turned toward the window in unison.
A massive sphere of light was flying straight at them.
SSHHHHHHHRREEEEEEE—
With a terrifying sound, it came closer and closer. The room and their vision went blinding white.
KRRRRRRAAAAAAAACK!!!!!
An enormous shockwave obliterated the nearby comms tower.
At the same time, a massive translucent wall started rising over the sky and land.
The entire estate turned to chaos.
“What is this!?”
“Someone! Anyone!?”
Nobles, guards, and knights were yelling and running around outside the chamber.
“What—what the hell was that!?”
“What just exploded!?”
Everyone was in a panic.
But it didn’t stop at a mere explosion. A few seconds later, all the glass windows shattered. The shockwave rattled their bodies. Aftershocks rumbled across the floor.
Kaiser nearly fell over. He steadied himself with his staff, reeling inside.
And then—
The baronet who’d just been mocking him... opened his mouth in horror.
And looked up at Kaiser with wide, terrified eyes.
“......W-Was that you...??”
...What?
“......Did you do that...!?”
Kaiser was flustered. What the hell was that guy talking about? How could he have caused such a massive explosion?
But the timing was... incredibly convenient. The moment he stood up and said “no helping it,” it had gone off.
“...No...”
He started to deny it—But then something odd stirred within him.
“...No.”
Words clung to the edge of his lips.
Was it enough to just say no? There were over ten people watching him. All close aides to a noble. All staring at him in shock.
“...That’s not quite right.”
And so, the brain of the shadowy genius Kaiser began spinning on its own. Words that even he didn’t understand gathered into a cohesive logic.
“O blind and ignorant fools. Do you still not see?”
Even before he could process the situation, his mouth was moving. It was practically a reflex.
“It was the will of my star, the [Domination Star❆]—”
Gasp—!
Everyone flinched or dropped in fear. They’d thought it was a fake star. But no—could it be real?!
Meanwhile, Kaiser’s legs were trembling. But the words had left his mouth. There was no taking it back.
He had no idea why he’d said that. He didn’t even know what the explosion was. Why it had happened. Who had caused it.
If they realized it was a lie, he’d be executed on the spot.
Ahhh—
And at that moment, his internal persona shattered.
...I’m screwed...!!
What now?
The [Domination Star❆]—what even was that!? It was just a logo he’d added on a whim to honor a professor he admired!
This was a crisis. A catastrophic crisis. He’d just bluffed his way into nonsense inside the estate of the southern king!
“...Ugh, how... could this....”
And yet—what the hell? Maybe it was because they’d lived in safety their whole lives, but—
The baronet and his guards stood from their seats. Then fell to their knees before Kaiser.
“P-Please... don’t kill us....”
“We beg your forgiveness...”
Kaiser felt dizzy.
“SAVE ME, KAISER...!!”