Leave a comment

The two were shocked initially but grew agitated when they processed the meaning behind my words.

“…Illya, are you telling us to die?”
“Die and become innocent… hah. You’re really the worst.”

Their words looked as if they were coming out of anger, but were instead filled with sadness.

It pained me that they trusted me that much, but I wasn’t such a saint.

“You two haven’t grown at all.”
“W-What the…?!”
“Do you know why you got caught? It’s because your judgment was poor.”

From the start, Bard held the Observation skill which was downward compatible with Appraisal which was like the Eyes of God.

Its ability was to see through the combat skill of the guild members he saw for the first time, but it failed to sense my danger. Well, I had 90% of everything hidden with the Stealth skill, but the remaining 10% should’ve been plenty of threat.

Why?

The answer was simple. It’s because he didn’t accept it even after sensing it.

Maybe it was due to impatience of failing the commission, or maybe overestimating their own strength, but if their self-assessment wasn’t so wrong they could’ve done things more smoothly. In that sense, I suppose I was overestimating them.

“Bard. I had you learn the receptionist work to develop how you saw people and your surroundings. Your skill to erase your presence is first class. Aside from that, you have to assess your ability and your enemy’s to proceed calmly and with composure.”
“…Calling it first class when you discovered me so easily doesn’t really have much credibility.”

He didn’t really seem happy about it.

“I’m not lying. Bard, you will erase your presence and carry the egg.”
“Only…me?”
“Yes. Cathy will be in charge of leading the wyverns away.”

Cathy stared straight at me.

She was too straightforward, for better or worse. She was too obedient, and her speech and attitude made it feel like she was Bard’s follower. But her Presence Isolation skill wasn’t as high as Bard’s, so frankly, she was like a bell that was attached to Bard.

Had she not infiltrated with him, Frank most likely wouldn’t have noticed him.

Her affinity wasn’t Presence Isolation but Presence Detection.

“Cathy, the reason I had you work as a waitress was to raise your ability to make an independent judgment. You’re light and nimble, and you’re sensitive to presence around too. Grasping the situation around you and deciding what to do on your own is something the current you should be able to do.”
“…Got it. I’ll do my best.”

Cathy nodded with tears in her eyes, and the tears broke off, staining her apron. She looked so good in it, so I felt a little lonely that this would be the last time she wore it.

“To be honest, I wanted to teach you more, but this commission came too suddenly, and there’s no one more suitable for it than you two. As such, I will give it to you as punishment. Is that okay?”
“Yeah.”
“…I guess there’s no helping it if this will make us free. So, what about the reward?”

I responded with a big smile, making it look as deliberate as possible.

“There’s naturally none of it. It’s unpaid. It’s punishment, after all.”
“S-Seriously…”
“Yes. It’s a commission you two can actually finish, after all. If there was a reward on top of that, it wouldn’t really be a punishment.”

Cathy smiled back in response while Bard powerlessly dropped his shoulders. But I clearly saw the corners of his mouth rising up into a smile despite his hung head.

Afterward, I explained the route to the nest to the two based on the map I obtained through Caron.

I registered the commission in the registration cards and passed them to the two. They were clearly surprised when they saw them.

“These aren’t ours.”
“It’s no longer Thieves Guild’s…”

Yes. I had them made anew under the Mercenary Guild.

“The previous cards would be traced to the Thieves Guild, after all. The current you can live anywhere, so use them if you plan to start a new life. Oh, and you can’t go abusing both of them, okay? Also, I deposited the salary for your work so far in those cards. Don’t lose them, okay?”
“Thanks… Illya.”
“…Tsk.”

The two started walking through the empty hall as I saw them off from the counter which was just as empty.

“I wholeheartedly pray for your safety and success.”

Bard received the egg in Beline, which was closest to the nest, and headed to the nest through detours while Cathy went in from the opposite side. She went ahead and lured the dragons around the nest and made them join up with the wyverns that were out in the human habitats. Bard meanwhile returned the egg to the nest and separated.

Once he was far enough from the nest, Bard threw a flame emission crystal high up to let Cathy know about it, after which she headed toward the nest while maintaining enough distance to keep the enemy attracted.

But then, a problem occurred.

Monsters called Rondo Leaf Moths were using Seclusion, which was acquired through the Presence Isolation skill, so Cathy failed to notice it quickly enough. Due to that, she got poisoned by its scale and sharply dropped her mobility. She got caught up in a predicament—surrounded by Rondo Leaf Moths while the wyverns also drew near.

The one who saved her from that predicament was Bard, who was supposed to have withdrawn from here according to their strategy.

Being assassins, they had both poison and antidote spells memorized, so they somehow escaped the Rondo Leaf Moths. Since Bard, who fell behind her in speed, was with her, they got attacked a few times along the way, but Bard also used his Presence Isolation while keeping himself away and managed to escape safely.

Once Cathy reached the nest, she broke into a full dash and escaped from the place. The wyverns who lost her abandoned the chase and switched to defending and staying alert around the nest.

It was good that they weren’t intelligent enough to realize that the two just came to return the egg that the humans stole. But well, that was also the reason why the reverse diversion tactics could be used to steal eggs from them too.

“…Phew. Thank god.”
“Pi?”

I switched off Clairvoyance and rubbed Haku’s head.

The two were free now. It was too tactless to keep spying on them after knowing that they escaped safely.

They might be shocked when they see the digits in their accounts, but this was also my final lesson that just actions were rewarded with just payment.

…They might get angry that I deceived them though.