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The mansion was heavily guarded, which made sense after the demon attack. There were guards everywhere, covering every single angle of entry, and they even had bright torches that illuminated the night sky. They even watched for aerial intruders, as I noticed small birds that kept flying around the mansion. Usually birds would be asleep at this hour, so they were probably being controlled by a magician.

“Getting past them sounds like a pain, but…”

No matter how heavy their guard was, there was always a limit to how much they could focus on something. Even if I tried to keep watch over something around the clock, there would be times I got distracted and lowered my guard, so I was convinced there was a way for me to sneak in. I landed a distance away from the mansion and hid in the shadows, waiting for the lookouts to pass by before inching closer to the building.

“Crap…they even have dogs.”

There were only a few of them, but I saw what looked like military trained dogs. It would be hard to mask off my scent, so it was time to rely on some magic. I let some wind carry away my scent behind me, making it harder for the dogs to notice me, and I broke through their guard and managed to get inside the mansion.

“Phew…now comes the main part…”

Luckily there were not as many guards inside the mansion as outside, at least from what I could see. I would usually use Detector Magic to know for sure, but the guards were humans with sharp senses, as opposed to the monsters in dungeons, so there was a chance I would get found if I used magic. If I was a regular assassin I would simply take out any guards that got in my way, but I did not want to harm anyone, which made things even harder for me. The best way to avoid the eyes of guards was to cling to the walls and ceiling as I slowly made my way towards the king’s room, but when I got close to it I noticed a throwing knife flying right towards me from behind, which I quickly dodged.

“Huh, you dodged that. I guess I should’ve expected that considering you got all the way here undetected.”

I quickly looked towards the direction the knife came from and I saw a lone figure standing in the lights coming from outside. She was a maid, wearing the same uniform as those servants that brought us lunch earlier, looking at me with a slightly creepy smile. I had not expected that some maids were trained just like the knights and kept guard here. But as I thought that, I noticed something felt off about her, she did not feel quite…human?

“Now then, I wonder where you came from? Considering your getup it’s obvious you’re an assassin. Hmm…many countries have helped the king without compensation, so are you trying to take over the territory by snuffing out the ruler now? That would mean you come from a nearby country…Bordaule is it? Or Lumielle? Zefar would also be a possibility. So, which one is it?”

I really wanted to confront her and tell her she had it all wrong, but I could not let her hear my voice now. If she was also with the king during lunch, she would probably recognize my voice. Still…usually when an intruder is found, the first reaction is to call reinforcements. Why was she trying to get rid of me alone?

“Either way, I’m sorry but I can’t let you kill the king yet. That human is an important pawn in my master’s plan, but once he lures the heroes away you can do as you want.”

That human? My master? I was confused, but at least I could tell she held no respect at all for the king. My best guess was that she was working under the orders of someone else, and had to keep the king alive for some reason. Either way, I needed to know more to be sure.

“…Who are you?”
“Oh my, this is the first time I hear an assassin talk. Such a sweet voice though, are you still a young boy perhaps?”

I tried lowering the timbre of my voice as much as I could, and it seemed to have worked well enough. I replied with silence to her question, which made her snort in boredom.

“Hmph, you’re no fun at all. But okay, I’ve been terribly bored pretending to be a maid all this time, so maybe I should toy with you for a while before I send you off.”
“Tell me who you are first.”
“Does that even matter to you though? But eh, you’ll be dead soon enough so I might as well tell you as a parting gift. I’m the loyal subject of Lord Aprila, one of the five Demon Kings.”
“?!”

A demon?! I was shocked to hear they had infiltrated this deep inside the country. But I had no time to ponder about that, I still had to figure out what their objective was with the king.

“Why is a demon-”
“In a place like this? That’s a secret. I’m not gonna spill everything just because you’re going to die. Anyway, I’m tired of talking, so prepare to die boy.”

As soon as she finished saying that, she lifted her skirt and unleashed a hail of daggers she held concealed there. At this point there was no reason to stay undercover, so I dashed to a window and jumped out, not bothering myself with the shards of glass falling down. There I leaped from roof to roof, trying to head out of the city. I could hear the mansion behind go on high alarm like a poked beehive. After a while I noticed something following me, and when I looked back I saw that same maid grinning eerily.