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The murderer learnt that her techniques would not work on Tsujihiko, but did not look very shocked by that.

“It’ll work out soon enough.”

An overwhelming sense of dread fell upon Tsujihiko. He felt a cold sweat emanating from all over his body, and he instinctively took a step back. A moment later the murderer appeared right in front of him.

By pure luck, the step he took let him dodge the diagonal swing of the murderer’s katana. But the attack was not over, as the blade turned around for a second swing, which Tsujihiko blocked with his own katana. That was followed by another diagonal swing in the opposite direction, a thrust, upswing, and so on.

Her attacks were relentless, not giving him any breathing room, and they were not directed by any techniques. She was like a beast hellbent on killing her prey and nothing more. Not even Tsujihiko could match her ferocity.

Tsujihiko was only barely dodging and blocking the attacks. Just like he had mentioned before, he had been training for a long time so he would not be killed, but that also meant his ability was only to defend himself, so he had no means to fight back now.

In an attempt to escape that deathlock, he broke through the pace of the attacks and ran out to the mansion’s garden.

The murderer also stopped attacking to chase after him, while holding her katana up.

He was so focused on running that he had no way of dodging or blocking, and by the time he turned around to see where she was, her blade was already in front of his eyes.

The blade glimmered like a crescent moon as it touched the tip of Tsujihiko’s head, but then his body dispersed into mist.

“Did you forget? I’m from Urado descent, I’m a vampire.”

Moonlight enhanced the abilities of vampires, and while it was not a full moon that night, it was enough for Tsujihiko to gain that ability. Defeating a vampire turned into mist was not very easy with the Urado-Mori techniques.

He had escaped death for now, but that did not mean he was out of the weeds yet. If she could not kill him that night, she would just come back another time. And if that happened somewhere with no moonlight to let him turn into mist, he would be doomed. The only way for him to survive was to kill the murderer.

As mist, he circled her and materialized behind her, ready to swing his katana at her. But she turned around quickly and blocked the attack, and after their blades collided he vanished again. There was not enough moonlight to clearly see his mist moving around.

The tables had turned now, as Tsujihiko went on the offensive. He constantly turned to mist and attacked from the murderer’s blind spots. Meanwhile the murderer was swift enough to dodge everything effortlessly, but by the time she could counterattack, he was already gone.

After repeating that for a while, Tsujihiko began to see a light at the end of the tunnel.

He could turn to mist at will under moonlight, so he could keep going for as long as it took. Meanwhile the murderer needed to remain focused to dodge all the attacks, and that would eventually wear down her mind, giving Tsujihiko a bigger advantage.

“So annoying.”

His attacks were not much of a threat for now, but she was starting to get fed up, not to mention that she detested being in the defensive role and feeling like she was playing right into his hand. Her plan had been to kill him much earlier, but Tsujihiko proved to be a tougher enemy than she expected, leading to this situation. In other words, she had gotten too overconfident.

She did not want to keep going like that, so she decided to use her trump card. She held her katana closer and lightly touched its blade.

“Bury them with dregs…” Her words were so quiet that Tsujihiko could not hear them, so he just kept going.

He tried swinging from behind her… And was interrupted by a blue slash. Then his hand holding his katana was cut off and fell freely.

“Ah- Gyaaaaaahhhhhh!!!”

Blood began gushing out from the newly created stump on his arm. He had not felt pain in a long time, and now was confronted with the worst pain he had felt in his life.

“Its power is usually sealed away under its name, but this katana is actually an undead slayer, a tool to kill those like you.”

A weapon like that could kill those of immortal and undead species, usually represented by vampires.

“An undead slayer?! Those are legendary katanas, the Urado family never owned such an item!”

“I just picked it up around the mountain.” Such an item was like a national relic, but she acted like it was some loose change she randomly found on the streets.

But regardless of the details, Tsujihiko was thoroughly confused.

“Also, let me give you one parting gift before you leave this world. The Headhunter Child’s scar was not on the cheek, but on the right eye, an eye that was fully crushed. And it wasn’t a scar from a fight, but a product of clumsiness from tripping and falling face first on a rock near the river.”

The murderer took off her mask, and then lifted her eyepatch to reveal a scarred eyelid stitched shut so it would never open again.

“People gave me that name randomly, so I have no attachment to it. But seeing someone use it to threaten others makes me mad.”
“Wait, that was you…you’re the child who told everyone to die…”

The murderer, Ruri, swung her katana through Tsujihiko’s neck, finally claiming his life¹.

The next day, the local government’s office was turned upside down, hurrying to deal with the case. Which made sense considering the heads of Tsujihiko and his henchmen had appeared scattered around the office that morning, and no one knew who had done that. At the very least, they knew that only a crazy person would do something like that.

But across Sashimi Harbor, the news that a new serial killer had appeared spread much faster than the news that a ruffian had been slain. That would not stop people from living their daily lives, especially for foreigners, as they could not allow such news to stop them from completing their work there.

Kazuta also had some thoughts about it, but now he had to worry about finding a way to earn money to keep food on the table.

“Those packages go over there.”
“Got it.”

Kazuta carried the packages according to Marize’s orders. Those packages would be easy for an adult to carry, but felt quite heavy for a child, so his feet wobbled as he moved them around. Still, watching him work hard brought a smile to the Beluga’s crew.

Then his brother Nisuke arrived. He was two years younger than Kazuta, his skin was less sunburnt, and was rather quiet.

“Marize, the customs manifest of the Nekome Store’s cargo is complete.”

Marize took the papers Nisuke brought and looked through them to verify everything was in order. “Thank you. If that’s all, then you can take a break, and then you can work on the other documents.”

There were two things Ruri had requested from Marize the night before. One was to stop Kazuta in case he got impatient and left his home. The other was to hire Kazuta and Nisuke so they could earn some money, as they had just lost both their parents.

Kazuta was really energetic so he started helping move cargo around, while Nisuke looked over documentation and took count of everything, as he was still too small and weak to carry heavy packages. While young, Nisuke had a sharp mind, and had some aptitude with writing and basic math, so he was a big help for Marize.

It was also useful that both had friends across Sashimi Harbor and knew the area well, so Marize was seriously considering hiring them full time.

“Good job everyone. I’ve brought some refreshments.” Ruri went to visit the Beluga, bringing a package with her. Inside they found dango from the tea house they visited the day before.

“Everyone, Ruri has brought us something. We’ll take a break.” In response to Marize’s call, the crew stopped working and gathered to eat.

Kazuta also stopped working and went to talk to Ruri. “Umm…thank you.”

He felt like he had racked up an enormous debt with Ruri, as she had forgiven his attempt to steal her katana, had asked Marize to hire him and his brother, and even went to work so Tsujihiko paid for what he had done.

“I didn’t really do anything though. Who would’ve known someone else would get him before me…” Ruri made an exaggerated act about being unrelated to Tsujihiko’s end, and then said she had stuff to do and left as soon as she could.

But Kazuta’s acute sense of smell had noticed the scent of blood lingering around Ruri, which was identical to the blood of the decapitated heads in front of the government’s office.

He watched her walk away for a bit, and then recalled what she had told him the day before.

“Say, any of you know how to become a maid?” Kazuta asked Marize and Nisuke who were nearby, and both grimaced a little.
“Someone who uses fake names can’t do it, that’s for sure.”
“You should fix the way you talk too, sis Wakana.”

After the death of both her parents, Wakana had pretended to be a boy so people took her more seriously, and now felt a bit uncomfortable about it.

1. Silva: Huh… had Ruri always sported an injury in one eye?