The next day I went to the Guild while wearing my mask and met up with Crescent Moon.
I made sure to bring a normal sword with me because I was worried that my true identity might get found out if I take the Oricalcum Sword with me.
I should ask the legendary blacksmith Mohkan to make an “Akatsuki exclusive” the next time I see him.
A two-hander made out of steel and a big one.
Even the blade of a common two handed sword is 100-150 centimetres long but Carlo’s sword exceeds the length of 175 centimetres.

“Akatsuki, good timing. I’m supposed to meet him now.”

Aah, the mountains are pretty today.
Her Breastplate emphasises them even more.

“Are you okay? Let’s go.”

Oops, now’s not the time to admire the scenery.
Let’s get serious.
I’m sure this is related to “that incident”.

Crescent Moon together with me entered a house out of town.
It’s a pretty big house but it seemed to be an unoccupied house with no residents.

“Hey, I came. It’s me”

“Crescent Moon, huh? You came. Is that your friend? Well, sit down.”

When the door opened five men were waiting in the room.
They all looked pretty evil.

“This fellow here is Akatsuki. He’s a mercenary same as me. I can guarantee his ability.”

“I’m Akatsuki. I heard this job is quite profitable. What should I do?”

As I introduced myself the men seemed to look at me doubtfully.

“Akatsuki? I’ve never heard of that name. He’s also covering his face, can we really trust that guy?”

A bearded man brought his face closer to mine and jeered at me.
Uh, He smelled of liquor.
To be honest, I’m bad with those kinds of guys but I can’t turn my eyes away now.
I endured it and just stared back at him with a deadpan expression.

“What? Those eyes. Want to fight? Huuuh?”

“You, are you complaining about someone I brought?”

I held back Crescent Moon who got angry at the man who wanted to pick a fight with me and slowly opened my mouth.

“Haven’t you misunderstood something? I was just asked to come by Crescent Moon. If you have complaints I’ll go back. Tell me if you want to check my abilities. I’ll show my skills in getting rid of you”

As I said this in a deadpan, calm voice my opponent gave in to his anger.

“You getting rid of me?! Don’t be so conceited! Gyan, let me show him how to speak properly!”

Looks like the man called Gyan is the leader.
Judging from his calm attitude that’s likely the case.

“Domur, don’t lose your temper. This happened because you suddenly picked a fight. As for you, you said your name was Akatsuki? Your way of speaking is a little – -”

“I don’t really mind. It’s not a bad idea to let you see my strength. Don’t worry I’ll go easy on you.”

I interrupted Gyan’s words who tried to pacify and provoked them daringly.

“Thiiiiis! I won’t forgive you, you, I’ll kill you!”

As the man called Domur’s eyes became bloodshot he pulled out his two-handed sword.
Looks like he forgot himself in anger.

“That guy, making Domur that angry. Is this fine, Crescent Moon? The man you brought will be done in.”

“Hmpf, do you think I’d bring a guy who’d get done in by someone like that? They can do whatever they want.”

Crescent Moon also noticed that I recklessly provoked my opponent.
She won’t try to stop me at all.

“Can’t be helped. Akatsuki, fight Domur. Just Domur should do. He has plenty of experience. Surrender before you get yourself killed.”

“Shut up, Gyan. If I don’t kill this guy I won’t be satisfied”

We moved to a larger place which looked like the living room.

“You, I won’t forgive you even if you beg for our life. Prepare yourself”

“Domur, don’t kill him. We need his help. Akatsuki, don’t you think it would be better if you apologised, too?”
Gyan seemed to want to detonate the situation but I ignored him and boldly pulled out my sword.
At that moment the men held their breath.
That’s to be expected, after all, I pulled out a 1.5-meter long sword which was a two-handed sword just like Domur’s.
It’s obviously imbalanced with my physique.

“Whaat, you, is that a bluff? Can you even swing that sword?”

Domur was daunted for an instant but then figured that I’m bluffing.

“You’re incredibly noisy. Do you want to fight with your mouth?”

After I said that, Domur finally snapped.

“You, I won’t let you talk anymore! Dieee!”

Domur came cutting at me with full power from the front.
To be honest, this kind of sword is disadvantageous to fight indoors.
But the visual impact is perfect and I always wanted to use such a sword no matter what.
Though I actually wanted a ridiculously huge sword like GaO’s Okiller but there’s a difference in the strength of an author and him so I can’t overdo it (sad)⌈¹⌋.

Gaan!

I blocked Domur’s sword which he swung down in a big arc.

“****!”

Domur wore a vexed expression, this time he’s attacking from there.

Gaan! Gakin!

Of course, I don’t intend to kill him so I’m suppressing my power and speed to the extent that I can still block Domur.
Still, I swing around this huge sword with ease and the men watching seem to not be able to conceal their surprise.

“Shi, ****, this!”

Domur desperately blocks my sword.
A considerable amount of pain should run through both his arms.

I wonder if his arms got tired, Domur’s sword kept falling lower and the gap grew.
I decided to finish this quickly because there’s no meaning in continuing this any further.

Gakiiiin!!
Buuuun!

At the time I hit away Domur’s sword my sword roared and shook and then landed next to Domur’s neck.
Out of fear to be killed Domur wasn’t even able to flinch.

“He, hey……You……”

“What’s the matter? Just try to move. If you do I’ll make you head roll and send it flying with a kick.”

“I, I lost, please forgive meee”

Domur is sweating profusely out of fear.

“Akatsuki, I have a good understanding of your strength. Please, forgive him.”

Gyan tried to hastily mediate.
My demonstration was a success.

“How is it? Akatsuki’s skills. I told you the guy I brought wouldn’t be weak, right?”

“Hmpf, All bark and no bite.”

I said this calmly and sheathed my sword.
When the sword disappeared from Domur’s neck he exhaled and sat down.

“He’s not just swinging around that huge sword, that perfect block is nothing short of superhuman. I thought I was done for.”

He must have cooled down as he heartily said this while patting his own neck.

“So, what are you going to do? If you have any complaints I’ll go home.”

“There are none. Akatsuki, please help us together with Crescent Moon.”

“That depends on the request’s contents and the money.”

I won’t just recklessly accept.
It’s troublesome to be so cautious.⌈²⌋

“I can’t say it in a loud voice but the job is a kidnapping. We only target young rich women as requested by a certain someone. However, recently rumours started to spread and their vigilance became severe, so we were looking for helpers.” (TN: I bet that certain someone is Gerg)

“A kidnapping, huh? I refuse to become a wanted man just for a one-time job.”

“Regarding that, it’s alright. We use the name of a thief group living around this area called the Highway thieves as cover so they won’t even search for us.”

Bingo.
So it was them who assumed those fellow’s identity after all?
But I need a little more information.

“The highway thieves, is it? What’s with that stale name?”

“Ahaha, it’s a laughingstock. Well, I didn’t really hear their name around as often recently, maybe they went somewhere else. Well, we got the support of a big shot”

There it is.
As I thought there’s a guy pulling the strings from the shadows.

“A Supporter, is it? Who would that be?”

“Slow down there, I can’t tell you that. It’s top secret. But Akatsuki, if a man of your calibre works for a while with us you’ll get to see him maybe.”

Mmm, after working with them for a while, that’s troublesome.
But they’ll get suspicious if I keep asking about this.
This is something I have to think about a little.

“Well, I don’t really care about that, I ought to get a proper reward for this work, right? So, how much is it?”

“That’s right, formerly I thought about giving 10 gold coins per person but I changed my mind, we’ll give 15 gold coins. How’s that?”

Honestly, the amount of money doesn’t really matter.
As I thought that, hey, my partner’s eyes turned into yen signs.
Well, should I negotiate a little to not get suspected?

“15 coins? Then you can forget about it. Make it 20 coins. Then I’ll think about it”⌈³⌋

“Fufufu as I expected. With your skills I thought it would rather suspicious if everything will go that smoothly, I’m sorry for doubting you. Let’s make it 20 coins like you asked. So? Will you accept?”

As I thought, using Akatsuki’s original character was the correct answer here.

“Fine. When will the job start?”

“It’s sudden but tomorrow. We got information that tomorrow the daughter of a rich merchant will leave the town to go to the capital. There’ll also be bodyguards but can I ask you to do it?”

“Fine by me, then it’s decided. Tomorrow I’ll come here. Is it also fine with you, Crescent Moon?”

“I don’t have any complaints. Then, till tomorrow”

With this, the talk concluded and Crescent Moon and I left.

“Akatsuki, someone is following us”

Crescent Moon told me that in a low voice without changing her line of sight.
This is also within expectations.
We confirmed that we had a follower and returned to the hideout after shaking him off.