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Chapter 25
“Eil, what did I tell you is the most important thing when taking on a commission?”
“The contract deposit.”
I answered immediately, wondering why he was asking something so obvious. Death closed his eyes and slowly shook his head.
“Not that.”
“The advance payment?”
“…No.”
His head shook mercilessly once again. After a moment of thought, I finally found the answer.
“Ah! The interim payment!”
“……”
If that wasn’t it either, then only the final payment remained. But just as I was about to say it, Death’s pitch-black eyes glared at me as though he wanted to kill me.
Hmm, apparently the final payment wasn’t the answer either…
“…Never make careless assumptions about the target.”
Feeling my way through a distant memory, I slowly spoke the correct answer.
Fortunately, it seemed to be what Death had been looking for. The dangerous gleam in his eyes faded, returning to its usual calmness.
“That’s right. What you’ve seen is only one side of things. Perhaps they’ve even been acting in a way that would lead you to that conclusion. Don’t jump to conclusions. Keep observing consistently.”
“What are you planning to do about the arena incident?”
“I’ll have Cheblin investigate it separately. The timing is far too suspicious, considering it happened precisely while you were away.”
Saying that all possibilities had to remain open, Death finished the cold tea left in his cup.
Still, it ended up being assigned to Cheblin. Judging by the look of it, he probably dumped it on me because he didn’t want to do it himself. Tsk, tsk.
“Do you really think Cheblin will find anything?”
“Well, Cheblin was there himself and even witnessed some suspicious circumstances firsthand. At the very least, he should be able to provide some useful insight. I’ll assign the task to him once his current commission is complete. You should head back now.”
By nature, Death could never leave even the slightest doubt unresolved.
Knowing that well, I accepted his decision without further argument.
Still, I couldn’t leave just yet. There was still one major issue regarding the target.
“Captain, there’s no way for me to verify the target’s power inside the Casio Duchy. Even if the target really is hiding his strength from me… he won’t reveal the family’s power easily unless his life is genuinely in danger.”
They said no one who had witnessed the power of the so-called monsters of Casio had survived.
Which meant those encounters had been one-on-one battles.
Or they had simply slaughtered multiple opponents unilaterally—overwhelmingly.
At my words, Death tilted his head in confusion.
“Wouldn’t this be resolved quickly if you stopped personally dealing with the assassins who come for him every night?”
“You know perfectly well that if the target dies because of that, there’s no taking it back.”
“Who knows? The fact that he’s still alive might mean he really is hiding his strength. Besides, there are plenty of ways to survive.”
This subtle difference highlighted the gap between Death and me.
Death would become convinced of a method and push forward decisively.
I, on the other hand, always kept failure close in mind, which made me lack that same drive.
“But blindly throwing him into danger based on a power I’ve never confirmed with my own eyes is gambling. Maybe he’s survived through luck until now, but all it takes is one moment of bad luck for him to die. And if that happens, my precious—”
“Precious? Don’t tell me you’ve actually grown attached to the target—”
“I can’t afford to lose a fortune worth a thousand gold pieces.”
“…Ah, so that’s what you meant.”
Muttering that it was reassuring I hadn’t changed, Death rubbed his forehead and sighed.
He seemed lost in thought for a while afterward. Then his black eyes fixed on me, carrying a chilling gleam.
“Eil. There may be a way to ease your concerns.”
He rummaged through several stacks of documents piled on one side of the table before pulling out a single file.
“Soon, I’ll secretly hire an assassin and send him to the ducal estate. I’ll instruct him to pose only a moderate threat to the target. You can observe from a distance and watch how the target responds.”
He placed the document on the table.
Several names were neatly listed on the page. It appeared to be a roster of assassins available for hire.
As Death said, delegating the task to someone else was the simplest and fastest solution.
There was, however, one reason I hadn’t considered that option myself.
“Captain, if the target truly possesses power, that assassin will die.”
To put it bluntly, the hired assassin would essentially be walking to his own death.
There was no way Death hadn’t already realized that, but I deliberately pointed it out anyway.
Death slowly nodded.
Far more firmly than before.
“Then we’ll obtain clear proof that the target possesses power. Information that even an elite infiltration team couldn’t uncover after half a month of investigation.”
Objectively speaking, it really was the clearest method available.
If someone else was merely hired to threaten the target, I wouldn’t have to worry constantly about losing him.
No matter how I think about it, I can’t come up with a better solution than this. Rejecting the proposal would be irresponsible after already accepting the commission.
Still, I wanted to avoid becoming completely indifferent to using someone else’s life as a disposable tool.
But as an assassin, such luxuries were beyond me.
All I could do was try my best to maintain my own line.
“If this proves that the target has no power, does the mission end?”
“That’s right. On the other hand, if he uses power, you’ll need to discover its source as quickly as possible. We have to act before the client’s patience runs out.”
There was no reason to drag things out. Death said he would send the assassin in just two days.
He had apparently already narrowed down his choices and was marking names on the document.
“What if we still can’t learn anything?”
“That shouldn’t happen. But if it does, we’ll have to resort to our final option.”
“…Final option?”
Death was an extremely rational person and rarely made such extreme statements.
Because of that, I couldn’t immediately guess what he meant.
“We’ll have no choice but to drag him out and force him into danger. Casio has its hands in countless businesses, so arranging such a situation won’t be difficult. Of course, we’d have to accept a certain amount of risk ourselves.”
In other words, he intended to confront the matter head-on.
For assassins, whose expertise lay in infiltration, sudden appearances, and swift eliminations, it was a thunderbolt from a clear sky.
Assassins normally circle their targets, waiting for an opening.
They don’t lure their targets out and fight them directly.
“…I’ll try to resolve it before it comes to that.”
I would have to find a way to save the hired assassin’s life while also confirming whether the target possessed power.
After all, fewer victims was always better.
In any case, now that a method for drawing out the target’s power had been decided, it was time to return to the estate.
I’d intended to get back before sunset, but this room was buried so deep inside the building that there were no windows, making it impossible to tell what was happening outside.
“You may be busy, but report back immediately once the matter is resolved. If you fail, we’ll need time to prepare on our end.”
“Understood. Though surely it won’t come down to the final option, right?”
I forced a smile as I answered, but a cold sweat seemed to trickle down my back.
…Nah, surely not.
