episode_0077

Late to come to his senses, he tried to run outside, but due to someone pushing from behind, he ended up taking a table and sitting down.

As soon as he sat down, the inn’s door closed roughly, and amidst the heavy atmosphere, the gathering began.

Seeing that it was clearly not a time to leave, he gestured to Jess and Iris to stay quiet, then rolled his eyes to assess the situation.

“This black gathering has been carefully selected for those with proven skills. That’s how dangerous and rewarding this mission is.”

As the man in the black robe spoke, everyone in the inn listened intently. He continued speaking, exuding a heavy atmosphere.

After listening carefully to the man’s words for a while, I organized the information in my head.

“So… the black gathering is a strange meeting created in a place called Deviatan to secretly gather strong mercenaries. The goal of this meeting is to wipe out an organization called Nest, which has taken over the western lands.”

It seemed like the boss of Deviatan might be someone who suffered from severe “middle school syndrome” like our house’s magic sword. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have set the condition that only those wearing black robes could participate in the gathering.

“All these humans in black robes gathered at the inn… seem so suspicious that it feels like all the information will leak out. On top of that, it makes no sense that we, who have no connection whatsoever, are sitting here. It means the gathering is being conducted very carelessly.”

When my thoughts reached that point, everyone in the room seemed pitiful.

“Doesn’t anyone think this meeting is strange? Or did only stupid people gather?”

While thinking such things…

“Achoo!”

Due to the dust floating around without proper ventilation, Jess let out a cute sneeze. At the same time, Jess’s robe hood fell back.

“What, what’s this!”

“That guy took off his robe…”

“More importantly… was such a guy among the mercenaries?”

The bright red hair and the elf-like ears captivated my attention in an instant. I hurriedly covered Jest’s hood and took in the atmosphere around me.

“A kid with a face I’ve never seen before…”

As the man spoke loudly as a representative, the atmosphere inside the inn quieted down at his whispered words. In the unusual atmosphere, I quietly summoned my sword.

Or rather, I tried to summon it.

Shrrrk -..

The pattern on the back of my hand shone brightly, and a brilliant crimson liquid shot into the air, resembling a radiant wine color. It mesmerized the onlookers like a piece of art, then swiftly transformed into the form of a splendid sword and fell into my hand.

“I’m here!”

I sighed softly, covering my face with empty hands. The thought “I’m done for” filled my mind. At that moment…

“…! I’m sorry about this.”

“…?”

“I should have recognized you right away from your white hair and the pattern on your hand. I made a mistake because my information was slow.”

I looked up at the man who was talking nonsense out of the blue. The atmosphere in the inn became restless.

“Do you know that guy?”

“Oh, yeah, people who know how to read probably saw him passing by. The story of the gladiator with white hair who slaughtered dozens, even hundreds of monsters in the arena, the ‘Butcher’ mentioned in the newspaper, is that guy.”

“….Ah!”

As his words ended, amazed voices erupted from all over. It was the reaction of those who knew how to read.

Those who didn’t understand the situation listened to others’ explanations and belatedly began to express amazement, gradually coming to terms with the situation.

“The red-haired one next to him must be the Red Queen.”

“…??”

“A queen? What?”

I was so bewildered that I couldn’t speak, my throat blocked. Even without asking questions, they started discussing information about the Red Queen among themselves.

“…! They say he cleared out the entire beast arena…”

“They say he tore Ashellican’s throat in an instant…”

Gloomy stories poured in from all over. I looked at Jess with a sense of disbelief. Jess was scratching the back of her head with a smirk on her face.

Seeing the face that looked like a piece of crap, I thought, “It doesn’t seem like it.”

“The remaining one must be the ‘Mad Swordsman.’”

I finally came to a conclusion after hearing Iris’s words. This was just a gathering of crazy middle schoolers. Otherwise, there was no way they could casually use nicknames like “Massacre,” “Crimson Queen,” or “Mad Warrior.”

“Oh, is it not? Could this be the culture of a dark fantasy world?”

As adults spoke such words with serious faces, confusion set in.

“If the three of you participate in the Black Assembly, we can consider the victory of this fight confirmed.”

“Hehe… things will get easier.”

“Hey! Welcome!”

I don’t know how things are working out, but at least I felt relieved to have escaped from a dangerous situation.

“Well then, let me explain further. The one we need to target is the boss of the Nest organization, ‘Noah.’”

“Huh…?”

At the familiar name that sounded frightening, my eyes widened.

“Below him are the executives ‘Nero,’ ‘Lily,’ ‘Koan’…”

As I heard the list of names, my pupils began to dilate. All of them… were the names of the kids who had been with me.

“We must capture and bring back all the executives alive.”

Saying so, he began to stick portraits on the bulletin board against the wall. They had slightly more mature faces than what he knew, but they were definitely the faces he had been looking for.

“As the boss of Nest cannot stand to see his subordinates being treated miserably, if it’s difficult to capture the executives, it’s fine to kill them directly in front of the boss of Nest. There’s nothing easier to deal with than an excited opponent.”

A light laughter spread at his words. Feeling his expression stiffen coldly, he tightened his grip on the demon sword.

“Creak…”

I heard Jess’s low sob. When I turned my head, Jess was glaring at a man who was shouting with his arms raised.

“Handling Jess and Iris without getting hurt is too difficult because there are too many of them.”

Rationally, leaving this place immediately is the right answer. However, I didn’t calm down easily.

“…When did I start caring like this?”

I burst into a wry smile and looked towards Iris. She was staring straight at my face, and our eyes met soon after. Iris slowly approached me and whispered.

“Do as you please, oppa. I’ll always be by your side.”

Upon hearing words filled with trust and faith, my hands relaxed instead. The sense of responsibility for Iris and Jess made me hesitate.

“…There’s no one stronger than us here.”

“Oh.”

Covering the back of my hand, Iris playfully whispered. Upon hearing her words, tension eased, and laughter flowed out. There was no basis for her words, but somehow, I believed her. Or maybe I just wanted to believe so badly.

Even if we have an accident here, no one will get hurt.

Clank!

After finishing organizing my thoughts, I suddenly stood up from my seat. Jess turned his head towards me, twitching his ears and nose. As a result, his hood came off again.

“…Do you have something to say?”

The man who had been talking about the operation for a while looked at me questioningly. Without a word, I held the reversed form of the dagger that had become a magic weapon and stuck it on the table. The magic weapon smoothly dug into the table as if cutting tofu.

I looked at the man and said,

“Blood Wave.”

The moment I recited the short spell, blood spread from the blade of the magic weapon along the table to the floor, like a shadow.

In an instant, the interior of the inn was dyed in blood color. It continued to rise up to the ankles. The pungent smell of blood seemed to paralyze my nose.

“What, what is this….”

Splash -.

Somewhere, the sound of waves could be heard, and the interior of the inn was instantly engulfed in blood.

“Cough…!”

“Ack!”

“Hey, spare us for a moment…!”

Splash -…

A sound that couldn’t be distinguished as the sound of waves or the sound of flesh being torn spread throughout the inn.

A protective dome formed around the table with the knife, and we suffered no harm.

Nothing remained in the wake of the sweeping waves. Not even bone fragments.

Splash, swish!

A single sound of waves spread out, and the blood was quickly sucked into the black sword. The world, which had lost its color, gradually returned to its original state, leaving only four people inside the inn.

Iris, Jess, and -… the man presumed to be the representative of the black assembly were the only ones left alive. The rest turned into a handful of blood, leaving no trace behind.

“Heh, hehehe..”

The man, thanks to my will, did not die, but he was soaked in the waves of blood and emerged trembling, completely drenched in fear.

Frowning at the piercing smell, I approached the man.

“Hey.”

“Eek!”

Not wanting to use honorifics to address the guy who threatened my colleague, I called him informally, and he reacted as if provoked, stepping back. I squatted down, holding the black sword.

“If you keep running, should I stick this into the ground?”

“No, no! Please don’t! Don’t send me to that dreadful hell! Just kill me! Kill me, please!”

The man shook his pale face vigorously. At this point, I was somewhat curious about what experience he had gone through.

Putting aside my doubts with a smile, I said,

“If you tell me everything you know, I’ll let you live.”

After spitting out the words, I felt like I wasn’t too villainous, but I decided to worry about that later. What was important now was the safety of Noah and the other kids.

***

“So, is it… that a white-haired man who wiped out a Viann organization orc unit at the western inn participated in the black assembly, and then the black assembly vanished without a trace…?”

“Yes, yes…”

“A man with white hair…”

A man looked down at the newspaper with sharp eyes. The worn-out newspaper contained a picture of an arena turned into a sea of blood and the contents about Lian, who slaughtered dozens, hundreds of monsters.

“…Was there a killer behind the nest? No, no. In this case, the killer would be the nest’s hunting dog.”

Tsk.

The man clicked his tongue and muttered under his breath.

“This has become troublesome.”

Unbeknownst to herself, Lian had gained the nickname “Nest’s Hunting Dog.”