Chapter 23: Fallen Leaves (2)
23
“Target confirmed.”
“Good. We pursue.”
Deep night.
At the same moment the clouds swallowed the moon, the Fallen Leaves that had been hiding raised their bodies.
Assassins clad in black hoods.
One waited to kill the maid in the detached chamber, while the rest watched Klein walking through the night streets.
“Confirming target information.”
“The target is Young Lord Klein. His swordsmanship itself is comparable to a unit commander–class knight, but he has no mana.”
“Then it’ll be easier to whittle him down from long range. What about the other one?”
“Nothing special. Just an ordinary maid. Just….”
While continuing the briefing as he followed Klein fleeing from the pursuit team, the Fallen Leaf trailed off.
“Just what?”
“…That is….”
After thinking for a moment, the Fallen Leaf opened his mouth as if unconvinced.
“There’s no identity information.”
“…No information? What do you mean by that?”
At his colleague’s question, he continued speaking as if he himself could not understand it.
“Exactly what it sounds like. I searched through the organization’s entire information network, but there’s no matching identity data.”
Where she was born, who her parents were. All of that information was missing.
At those words, the Fallen Leaf with his hood pulled low was momentarily left speechless.
A subterranean organization whose activity range covered the entire continent, Fallen Leaves.
The information network they had built grasped nearly every continental resident’s personal data in detail.
Even if a nameless bastard were thrown into the middle of the sea, Fallen Leaves’ network could find and kill the mother and father.
If it was a well-known city like the Leinrant territory, they would have recorded even a single rat without missing it.
And yet, there was nothing?
“A maid brought from a reformatory when Young Lord Klein was seven. Other than that, there is no information at all.”
“Then….”
“Yeah.”
The Fallen Leaf with his face covered by a mask slowly opened his mouth.
“That maid is, quite literally, a human who sprang up from empty space.”
As he said that, the two of them snapped back to their senses when they saw Klein turn the corner.
“Should we look into it once more?”
“No. There’s no need.”
There were uncertain elements, but they had already completed the contract.
If they postponed the plan over such trivial factors, they would have no face to show their comrades at headquarters.
Moreover, when they thought of ‘that item’ they would receive as the contract payment….
“Even if there’s no information, she’s just an ordinary maid with not a shred of mana.”
“Then….”
“Just kill her. Delphin is reliable enough.”
The one among them with the greatest skill.
That was why he was scheduled to deal with the target as quickly as possible and become a reserve force in case of unforeseen circumstances.
“The target has stopped!”
In the meantime, Klein reached a deserted open space and came to a halt there.
An optimal location for assassination.
Yet the Fallen Leaves instead scanned their surroundings with suspicion.
“What is it? Why in a place like this….”
The moment one of the Fallen Leaves said that—
“I thought at least several dozen would swarm in, but the numbers are fewer than I expected?”
Klein raised his voice toward where they were.
A longsword was already in one hand.
“We’ve been spotted?!”
“When did he—!”
Flustered by the unexpected situation, the two Fallen Leaves threw their concealed weapons at the same time.
Kaang-!
However, the concealed weapons were blocked by Klein’s sword and fell to the ground with a metallic clang, never touching his body.
“That’s quite a noisy greeting.”
Klein said that as he looked at the concealed weapons stuck in the ground.
‘Since our position has been exposed, any further ambush is meaningless!’
‘I’ll draw his attention. You aim for his back.’
After finishing their exchange through hand signals, the Fallen Leaf revealed himself in front of Klein.
‘No trap, no ambush. Does he really think he can kill the two of us alone?’
Thinking that, irritation simmered within him.
Both hands were already filled with various tools and concealed weapons brimming with deadly poison.
If he so desired, he could cut off his breath in an instant.
“Judging by the look of it, who hired you is obvious even without checking.”
Klein, who had drawn his sword, spoke toward them with an annoyed, mocking tone.
“Seems like neither side has anything to say, so shall we finish this quickly?”
A single line that was like a declaration of war.
Hearing those words, a deep sneer formed on the Fallen Leaf’s lips.
“You’d rather die without knowing anything…!”
“It would’ve been much more comfortable!”
At the same time as they said that, their figures vanished.
“Oh, even assassins use footwork these days?”
A situation where he didn’t know from where or what kind of attack would come flying.
Yet Young Lord Klein watched the movements of the two with interested eyes, as if he found the sight amusing.
‘The information wasn’t an exaggeration. He’s reading my path.’
Mana, presence, killing intent.
Things that even swordsmen or mages could not detect all at once—those were what Fallen Leaves’ assassins erased.
Yet Klein Leinrant.
His eyes followed the movements of the two without the slightest disturbance.
Kiiiiii-!
In the next moment, the Fallen Leaf who had disappeared lunged in, stabbing with a dagger.
At the same time, the other seized the rear and threw a concealed weapon.
A formation attacking front and back simultaneously.
‘No matter which side he defends!’
‘You’re finished!’
At the same moment he thought that, the Fallen Leaf holding the dagger saw Klein’s sword charging toward him.
‘Good, he’s distracted by this side!’
Klein’s sword strike aimed straight ahead.
Just after the Fallen Leaf twisted his body to avoid the blade—
Kakang-!
With a metallic sound, the concealed weapon was knocked away and shot upward.
“!?”
It was something that should not have been possible.
He had swung his sword at me, so his back should have been completely defenseless.
And yet, when I checked Klein again, he was standing with his back turned to me, having flicked his dagger upward.
“Phantom Sword, it’s more usable than I thought?”
Klein said that with a smiling face and immediately charged at the man holding the dagger.
“Kgh?!”
In an instant, Delain’s footwork unfolded as he closed the distance.
The trajectory was a thrust.
“With something like this!”
As Fallen Leaves tried to bat the incoming blade aside, the scene from just moments ago flashed through his mind.
‘I thought it was from the front, but he struck from behind. If that’s the case!’
Thinking that, Fallen Leaves immediately twisted his body to the side and hurled his dagger.
Kaaang-!
Just as expected.
It looked like a thrust, but in the next moment, his sword path angled toward the side.
“Using such a pathetic trick!”
Fallen Leaves said through clenched teeth, but Klein merely shrugged.
“Is an assassin really talking about tricks to a swordsman right now?”
Yet while listening to that, Fallen Leaves, who had thrown his dagger, broke into a confident smile.
“Right. This is what you call a real trick.”
With those words, Fallen Leaves’ figure vanished from before my eyes.
“This should do it!”
The moment he disappeared from sight, the other one, who had finished preparing, pulled the wire.
Pushushushush-!
While one dealt with Klein, the other had installed fixed crossbows all around.
The crossbows set up in eight directions simultaneously spat quarrels toward Klein.
The opponent’s attention had been stolen by the strike just before.
No matter how powerful a swordsman might be, if a barrage continued from long range, there would be no way to deal with it!
Kukwakwakwakwang-!
The crossbows, with their tremendous tension, did not simply lodge themselves in place but tore up the ground along with the tiles.
Thick smoke billowed up with a sound close to an explosion.
Confirming that, the two Fallen Leaves let out a long sigh.
“No matter how much of a knight he is, he can’t block this.”
Eight crossbow bolts that could pierce straight through a war shield.
No matter how powerful a swordsman might be, it was an attack no one could survive.
“He was more troublesome than I expected.”
“Yeah.”
One of the Fallen Leaves, who had been setting up the crossbows, said that as the job finished.
“But with this, we finally get the ‘Sacred Blood’ that none of the Fallen Leaves ever managed to obtain.”
Sacred Blood.
At that name, the Fallen Leaves nodded and pulled back his hood to check his arm.
A communication spell engraved like a tattoo.
It was the mark connecting him to the companion tasked with killing the maid.
“Good.”
Seeing the new message appear, Fallen Leaves nodded.
“Looks like it’s all done over there too. The rendezvous point is….”
However, just as Fallen Leaves was saying that, he suddenly stopped speaking and froze in place.
“What is it, what’s wrong?”
“…It’s not a signal. A message came through.”
“A message?”
At those words, the voice of the Fallen Leaves holding the dagger grew uneasy.
In a Fallen Leaves mission, the most important thing was security.
They should never use it except for absolutely necessary information….
“What did it say?”
“Th, that is….”
It was the moment one of the Fallen Leaves trailed off.
“Why, did something not go well?”
From the center of the clearing, which had been turned into a wasteland by the barrage of quarrels, came a man’s voice that should not have been heard.
“Hey, it was my only set of clothes. You ruined them all.”
A powerful attack that would have shredded an ordinary, non-magical person dozens of times over.
And yet, Young Master Klein walked out without a single wound, casually brushing dust off his dirtied clothes.
“K, Young Master Klein?!”
“How…!”
“You’re fine?”
As he cut off the questions they should have asked, Young Master Klein broke into a broad smile.
The eight quarrels that had flown toward him.
It was a threatening device and plan, but unfortunately, he had blocked attacks like this before.
“I’m kind of a master at blocking crossbows by now.”
As he said that, something slowly walked out of the thick smoke.
Step. Step.
“Th, that is…?”
A skeleton with smoke pouring out of its black body.
As if it had blocked the quarrels with its own body, it was shattered and dangling in several places.
“A skeleton?!”
“Necromancy, that’s impossible…!”
Realizing that something had gone wrong, the Fallen Leaves hurriedly looked around.
Sssss…!
In the meantime, the skeleton, which had been broken in many places, was slowly restoring its original form.
“Damn it…!”
Despair seeped into the voice of Fallen Leaves as he looked around in all directions.
The escape routes they had scouted in advance, the alleys, the rooftops.
Skeletons had appeared along every single one of those paths, aiming their bows at them.
“The easiest way to deal with assassins is to surround them in an open area.”
As the rare experiment ended successfully, Klein smiled in satisfaction.
A tactic where he offered himself as bait, forced them to use all their cards, and then crushed them with numbers.
It was a new combat style that combined the swordsmanship and necromancy he possessed.
“Damn it, if it comes to this…!”
The moment Fallen Leaves, gritting his teeth, pulled something out from his chest.
Ping-!
An arrow flying from the rooftop grazed past his wrist in an instant.
It was a shot that precisely aimed just to the side, avoiding the artery.
Accuracy on par with an elite marksman of the regular army.
“Aaagh?!”
Unable to withstand the intense pain, Fallen Leaves screamed as he dropped what he was holding.
A suicide bomb rolled along the ground where it had fallen.
“It’s better not to think about killing yourself in front of a Necromancer.”
Chwarrrrk-!
Ten skeletons simultaneously pointed their swords at them, while the rest surrounded them and aimed their bows.
“I could even make you beg to be killed instead.”
Klein’s smile as he warned them felt all the more chilling under the moonlight.
“Damn it, contact Delphin! He has to be watching from above!”
A situation no different from being completely surrounded.
Fallen Leaves said that with a desperate expression, but his companion, who had rolled up his sleeve, stopped in place without saying a word.
“Damn it!”
It was wrong.
There was no reaction, as if he had seen something incomprehensible.
Irritated that his partner was not responding, Fallen Leaves immediately rolled up his own sleeve to check the message.
…And just like his partner, he too had no choice but to freeze in place.
“What is this?”
On their arms, there was only a single line written.
‘Run away.’
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