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The two men collapsed with thuds. It seems that the sound reached inside the room, someone spoke from the other side.

“Hey, is everything alright there?”

I had no recollection of that voice. That said, despite his vigilance, he still went and made himself vulnerable by calling out to them, so I could see that whoever he was, he had low combat experience.

In other words, it was either the slave trader or Klein for sure.

I slid next to the fallen men and pulled out the knives. By doing this, there would be nothing stopping the blood flow, raising their chances of death.

Their wounds were pumping out blood but their pulse grew weaker as time passed. That was proof that their hearts were weakening. These men had no hope of seeing another day.

“I’m asking what happened!”

I could hear an irritated… even hysterical voice. I ignored his question and quietly opened the door.

There was a fluffy carpet and a luxurious chandelier above. It was clearly not a room a normal guest would be using.

And on the other side of the desk, there was a nervous man. There was a sword leaned against the desk, but it didn’t look to be drawn. I was seeing him for the first time, but his hairstyle matched that of the masked man. On top of that, he looked somewhat like Donovan.

“Former Margrave Klein Stolla Serwa?”
“A kid…no, a Gnome!?”

Instead of replying to my question, he returned such rude words. I was certainly shorter compared to the kids of the same year, but not so short I would be mistaken for a Gnome.

Their heights stopped at around one meter and a bit. I was one meter and thirty centimeters tall. Ah, well, that doesn’t matter now.

“Former Magrave Serwa. The current Margrave Donovan has ordered that you return the taxation document at once.”
“Donovan!? That foolish brat hired an assassin!? That ungrateful b̲a̲s̲t̲a̲r̲d̲ turning against his own father…!”

And who was the one that tried to throw his own son in the mud? I almost asked that reflexively. Klein was well aware of what kind of messenger I was after seeing the knives in my hand.

After all, they were dripping with blood as we spoke.

“You don’t need to answer me. But it would make my job easier if you just hand it over now.”
“Like hell I will!”

He seemed to not understand the situation he was in, he started ranting at me with spit bubbling up in his mouth. Still, I would give him some points for reaching out to the sword. No, on another thought, I would not. It was a poor plan to try to oppose me.

With a single wave of my hand, I planted a throwing knife in his right arm.

“Gyaah!?”

He raised a shriek and dropped his sword. Then he retracted a few steps, tripped, and fell on his a̲s̲s̲. His left hand held the knife that was stabbed into his right.

I gave him time to remove it and grab his weapon, yet he started tearing up and crawling backward instead.

“I will ask you once again, just in case. Where is the taxat—!?”

I suddenly cut my words and jumped to the side. The next moment, the sword pressure blew through space I stood a moment before.

Before I noticed, a tall, middle-aged man managed to make his way behind me. He was so tall he almost reached two meters. In both his hands, he held b̲a̲s̲t̲a̲r̲d̲ swords even longer than Mateus’.

Despite holding such giant swords, he managed to sneak up to me and swing it down without even breaking his posture. I instantly could tell how skilled he was based on his aura.

“…I was wondering what kind of bug was sneaking around in the mansion all this time, but it looks like it was just a brat.”
“Gideon! It’s an intruder, hurry up and kill her!”
“Shut up. Don’t tell me what to do.”

The man called Gideon threw those words at Klein who was crying at him to kill me, and glared at my way. I could feel his eyes piercing me… my entire body. I could feel that he was thinking of a plan to kill me even as we stood.

“A brat… No, a woman? Hey missy, you seem quite skilled there. It seems like you took out five of them out there?”
“Seven.”
“That’s amazing. You are definitely first class as far as assassins go.”

Let alone first-class, I had been called the world’s best in my previous life. And yet, he managed to sneak up to me, so this could only mean he had a Stealth Gift of his own.

In fact, the Jend Sect’s fighting style focused on making full use of the stealth ability, so it was natural for them to have such individuals.

“The fact that they sent an assassin could only mean that damn Mateus failed his job, huh? It’s always the same, he’s all talk.”
“He just lucked out on his opponent.”
“So he fought Lyell or Gadius, huh? Yeah, even I couldn’t beat them. Well, in my case, I would not have found myself in that battle, though.”

Even as he talked, he gradually closed the distance between us. He was using a peculiar technique to move, moving his fingers instead of feet to advance. He planned to sneakily approach, take me by surprise, and lop off my head. With the way he moved, something like that was possible.

“How about it, why not come train at my place?”
“Never in a million years. I am a lone wolf.”
“You say that, but isn’t there another person on the third floor?”

Now that he brought it up, I remembered about Maxwell. This guy could have snuck up on him and possibly land an attack. Unlike Lyell and Gadius, Maxwell was weak to direct blows. Even one attack might prove to be fatal.

However, the pigeon on my shoulder was still sitting silently. If anything had happened to him, it would have returned to a lump of earth. In other words, Maxwell’s life was not in danger.

“I just had him help me get inside. And will have him help me to make my escape.”
“You seem to be quite a slave-driver contrary to your appearance, missy. Ah well. I could overlook your violence tonight if you were to become my subordinate… But if not, that would be another story.”

His speech was quite friendly. But the moment he spoke that, the pressure coming from him changed completely. From the pressure to keep me at bay, into pressure that saw me as prey.

I immediately pulled my dagger and prepared to intercept his attack. But someone else interrupted us before that. It was Klein who had been sitting on the floor all this time.

He pulled out the knife from his shoulder and threw it my way. Moreover, he immediately turned around and broke through the window glass to escape outside.

The knife thrown by an amateur could pose no threat, of course. It was spinning unnaturally as it headed towards me.

What was dangerous, however, was the blood from its edge scattering everywhere due to that irregular movement. If it got in my eyes, it could lead to a fatal wound.

I covered my eyes as I dodged the knife, and then tried to chase after him. However, Gideon stopped me in place.

“Woah there, that’s so bad of you to try leaving me behind.”
“I’m not interested in getting along with some dude.”
“So you are a homosexual at that age? That’s a shame. Your appearance is top quality too.”
“Shut up, I have my circumstances okay!”

Gideon’s sword blocked my route to Klein. And then he swung one more time to keep me in check.

And thus, I had come to find myself up against the Jend Sect’s leader.