PHIM 12

Chapter : 12

Dirty.

The Master’s office was, quite literally, such a complete disaster that even pigs would recoil and run away.

From the entrance, piles of documents and snack wrappers littered the floor, bumping against her feet as she roughly kicked them aside and approached the Master.

He was slumped sprawled across what was, comparatively, the cleanest sofa, sitting in a loose, lazy posture.

“It looks even dirtier than before.”

“Huh? No it doesn’t. I cleaned it yesterday.”

This counts as cleaned…?

She stared blankly for a moment at the unidentified clothing tangled all over the floor before shifting her gaze to him.

“You called me here just to joke around because you felt bad, right?”

“That’s harsh. It’s spotless.”

He’d decorated the door like the entrance to some jungle—was he planning to turn the inside into one too? Otherwise, there was no explanation for this scenery.

“Well, fine. If you say it’s clean, then it’s clean.”

“Exactly. Everything here is arranged according to its own rules.”

They looked like rules not even the Archmage Hart could decipher, but out of respect for his taste, she nodded.

Seeing her reaction, he chuckled pleasantly, then suddenly made an oh! face and pulled a single sheet of paper from a pile of documents.

“Come to think of it, now’s not the time for nonsense. Louisa, this is an urgent request. I’ll pay triple.”

That was a big number. She tilted her chin, prompting him to explain further, and he got straight to the point.

“There’s a conflict zone near Nipe. Apparently, there’s a very capable allied forces commander there. The noble sent to oversee things is having a hard time.”

“So? What about it? Send someone else from the guild who’s good.”

“Ugh… I know you try to avoid getting involved with imperial nobles, so that was the plan. But there’s a problem.”

Leon’s expression turned serious. The man who usually lounged around like a well-fed lion finally looked like a proper guild master.

“That noble’s been taken hostage.”

“What?”

“He’s the supreme commander, and he got captured the moment he was dispatched…?”

What kind of idiot—

“If you’re going to pick someone, maybe choose someone competent? Haha. Hahaha.”

Leon laughed like a madman while staring into empty space. Then his eyes suddenly sparkled, and he grabbed her hand tightly.

“You’ll do it, right? Yeah?”

No. I’m refusing.

But Leon quickly sensed her intention and tightened his grip.

“If I mess this up, I’ll be completely ruined!”

He lunged toward her, looking ready to drop to his knees at any moment.

To an outsider, it might’ve looked like exaggerated whining—but she couldn’t exactly say, ‘What’s the big deal over one request?’ to him.

“If this request fails, won’t the Imperial Palace take at least one of my arms…? I’m scared. Sniff.”

That was because this guild had the Empire backing it.

A tower built with painstaking effort that would collapse just as miserably if the Empire fell—that was the true nature of this guild.

As she looked at Leon’s desperate expression, she recalled the words of the man she’d heard on the first floor earlier.

The guild’s dog.

“Louisa. Without you, how would this guild even function, huh? Please, save me!”

This guild really was a dog—one that wouldn’t hesitate to fawn over her to stay in her good graces.

“Still, I’m refusing. As long as nobles are involved.”

But no meant no. Anything connected to the Empire was something best cut off cleanly.

Especially for someone like her, who only knew the story vaguely through a friend—one wrong step and she could get dragged into the original plot.

“Wouldn’t it work if you just sneak in and kill him in the evening? You can do it. We’ll handle the cleanup afterward.”

“No.”

“Hey! I’m serious—my arm is really going to get chopped off!”

Leon shouted.

There was no bigger nuisance than this. Look at his attitude—acting all indignant while begging. She let out a hollow laugh at him.

Then Leon slowly slid off his chair and knelt. His eyes lowered submissively.

“I sincerely apologize, Lady Louisa. This lion-tailed guild master, Leon, humbly begs you. Think of how much one can accomplish with both arms intact. Please, just this once, spare me! Believe me!”

What is this, an election campaign? Yeah, I’m not voting for you.

She snorted at the sight of Leon clinging to her. Still, familiarity breeds affection—after seeing him for ten years, even that pathetic display stirred a bit of pity.

All I have to do is kill one person. They’ll take care of the rest… should be fine, right?

He wasn’t the type to lie. If he said his arm would be cut off on failure, that was probably true.

And if she refused?

Then this man would spend his entire life following her around whining, “If only you’d accepted the request back then,” until she went insane.

That would be annoying in its own way.

With her heart tilting one way, she scowled and roughly grabbed his arm to pull him up. Leon stumbled to his feet, eyes shining.

“You’ll do it?”

“…Say one more word in that baby talk, and I’ll show you whose arm gets chopped off first.”

“When did I ever—? I was just scared, that’s why my tongue slipped.”

A sly bastard. Before she knew it, Leon was grinning and tightly wrapping his arms around her.

A 190-centimeter giant clinging like that was truly—

“You just need to take care of it quickly at night. I’ll give you an artifact that lets you use invisibility. You won’t run into anyone. Right? Louisaaa.”

Disgusting. At this point, wouldn’t cursing him out be completely justified?

“…Even so, double swearing is a bit much, Louisa…”

“…Ahem.”

She’d meant to think it, but apparently said it out loud. Why did he have to talk like that, anyway?

Leon slowly loosened his grip and glanced at her.

“You’re really doing it, right?”

“Only this once. Tomorrow evening. I won’t run into anyone.”

“Of course! I’ll give you the best artifact!”

He jumped around, completely forgetting his heavy build. She barely managed to calm down the oddly girlish Leon and accepted the artifact.

Right. Late at night, with an invisibility artifact—who would she possibly run into?

But… as they say, never underestimate a bad feeling.

This cliché-filled world had planted yet another ominous flag for her.

* * *

Leon had said it was nearby, but the Nipe conflict zone was actually quite far away.

Still, she wanted to finish it as quickly as possible—and she’d promised Adele she’d return soon—so she hurried.

“At least that’s something.”

Thanks to pushing herself hard, she barely managed to reach the lord’s castle where the allied forces were stationed.

The castle walls were high enough that most people wouldn’t even dare think of climbing them. But a Sword Master was different.

Carefully suppressing the visible color of her mana, she infused it into her legs.

With a single leap, she lightly ran along the wall. Perhaps thanks to the invisibility spell, even her presence vanished—no one was on guard.

So far, so good. All that remained was killing the commander.

“Oh? An assassin?”

…That thought vanished instantly.

The sudden voice shattered her plan completely.

There was no one around who looked like an assassin—so saying that meant—

“Yes, you there. The one using the invisibility artifact.”

…Yeah. He was talking to her. Damn it.

Stiffly turning her head, she saw a blue-haired man leaning against the battlements, grinning cheerfully.

“But I can’t tell if you’re a man or a woman. Hey—which is it?”

Was his head full of flowers or something? The man casually asked about her gender.

At least it seemed he couldn’t actually see her. Of course, he wasn’t supposed to know she was there at all.

Leon, you bastard. You said no one would notice! Then what is this?!

A headache throbbed behind her eyes. Instead of grabbing the back of her neck, she drew the sword at her waist.

Whether he was allied forces or Imperial, it was best to kill witnesses.

But the moment her hand touched the sword, the man somehow sensed it and raised both hands.

“Wait. You’re not a mercenary dispatched by the Empire? I heard they were sending one—am I right?”

How did he know that?

Her grip on the sword loosened. Someone with that information had to be high-ranking.

Killing him just got harder.

She clicked her tongue softly. At the same time, the man let out a relieved sigh and shook his head.

“They said they were sending mercenaries, so I thought it’d be a whole unit. But just one? Ah, at this rate, we’re all going to die.”

Did he already forget he’d nearly died himself?

Ignoring the man muttering to himself, she descended straight down from the gate.

He wouldn’t follow her now, right?

“You short on money? Even so, coming here alone was a bad idea.”

…Thinking that was her mistake again. This guy was insanely persistent.

“The allied forces commander here is kind of a lunatic, you know? One person won’t be enough.”

I think you’re the real lunatic. And why are you talking to me when allied soldiers are everywhere?!

“To be honest, you didn’t even look that scary earlier. I could tell just by looking—the blade’s completely worn down.”

She couldn’t argue with that. The weapon she brought was something she’d picked up off a battlefield, its edge thoroughly dulled.

So what? Mana coating exists.

She ignored the man chattering beside her like he was giving advice.

She had no idea how long he planned to follow her. Even as they approached the top floor where the allied commander was staying, he stuck to her like a leech.

If there’s someone this strong, why did they even request the guild?

Despite the heavy security, the man was relaxed.

That meant he could not only erase his presence but even blur his existence—at least an intermediate Sword Expert.

So why call me instead of using someone like him?

Either way, once she got back, half-killing Leon was already a done deal.

Ignoring the man asking whether she was a woman, she reached the door presumed to be the commander’s room.