Ch.11Obsessed For This Reason #7

“Did they say customer information is confidential? But what would happen if I cut off their throat?”

The Assassin Guild branch, which had resembled a tavern with its wooden counter, tables, and chairs, was now in ruins. As if a typhoon had swept through, chairs were scattered about, tables and counters smashed to pieces, and dozens of men who had guarded the place were sprawled across the floor.

They were all still alive, still breathing. Though they bore cuts on various parts of their bodies, the wounds were at a level where the bleeding could be controlled. Clearly, they had been deliberately injured just enough to incapacitate them without killing them.

Helena, the perpetrator of this devastation, sat calmly on one of the few intact chairs and posed her question with complete composure. With her arms crossed arrogantly, she looked down with contemptuous eyes at the floor.

Her target was the branch manager, who was groaning in pain at her feet.

“That’s…!”

“Of course, if I do that, you won’t be able to speak, so I couldn’t extract information. And your guild might try to take revenge on me. But would the Assassin Guild really dare to do that?”

The branch manager couldn’t answer her mocking question.

Assassins were in the business of selling fear through assassination, not engaging in open warfare like this.

That’s not to say they lacked combat ability. The minimum requirement for carrying out assassinations was physical and technical training, so it was natural they had some aptitude for battle.

However, facing a real army led by a monster like Helena would be absurd. It would be foolish to the point of suicide. Cutting their losses by sacrificing one branch would be far more beneficial.

Calculating human lives in terms of profit might seem distasteful, but then again, that was precisely the business of assassins.

“We… couldn’t,” the branch manager said.

Understanding this reality all too well, he could only nod his head. Being human and valuing his life, he desperately prayed to leave this place alive.

And as if answering his prayer, Helena’s voice reached the branch manager’s ears.

“If you tell me the information I want, I’ll spare your life. But remove your branch from Krauser territory. Can you do that?”

“Y-yes! I can! No, I will make it happen!”

Even a knight who had trained with a sword all his life would find it difficult to match the highest level of Sword Expert. And Helena was a genius who had reached that highest level before even turning twenty, as well as being the heir to a duke—an iron fortress. She was the type the Assassin Guild could never hope to confront.

But since this iron fortress had opened a path to survival on her own, there was no room for hesitation. To survive, he had to accomplish the impossible.

Helena, seemingly satisfied with his determination, nodded once and proceeded to the main topic, her voice still as cold as frost.

“Good. First question. Have you received any assassination requests within the past week?”

“Y-yes! Three cases!”

“Tell me all of them.”

The branch manager answered with the utmost respect, as if addressing his superior. Though she wasn’t actually his superior, with his life in her hands, she took precedence even over the guild master.

All the assassination cases the branch manager mentioned had been completed. One was a request due to domestic violence, another to eliminate a business competitor.

And lastly, there was a request to infiltrate a knights’ encampment and assassinate an ordinary man. Although it was a den teeming with knights, since they weren’t targeting the knights themselves, he clearly remembered accepting the job.

“Who commissioned the assassination of the man in that encampment?”

“That… was a man I’d never seen before. He said he was acting on orders from someone else.”

Received orders. That meant the person Helena suspected hadn’t come in person.

Well, that arrogant child probably wouldn’t have been desperate enough to come personally, so it made sense.

Helena was somewhat disappointed but thought it reasonable enough, and asked the name just in case.

“So, what was this man’s name?”

Assassination requests are completed through direct transactions. This was the result of the guild’s policy of simply taking money and being done with it, which aligned well with clients’ desire to expose their identities as little as possible. It was also convenient because once a request was successful, news of the death would reach them, eliminating the need to visit the Assassin Guild again.

However, the Assassin Guild wasn’t satisfied with just that. They typically secretly followed clients to uncover their identities. This information was usually unnecessary but served as insurance in case any client ever tried to pressure the guild.

“Allen. A man who stays in the same Krauser mansion as you. We observed him long enough to be certain.”

Allen was an alias. At least, there was no man by that name in the Krauser mansion.

But knowing that he was within Helena’s reach made the task much easier to proceed with.

“His appearance? Do you remember?”

“Yes. His height is about a little shorter than that fellow collapsed in the corner by the counter. And he has brown hair. His build… he seems well-fed, not bad at all.”

Helena carefully examined the man the branch manager pointed to, combining this with the information she had gathered.

A man of that height with a moderately sturdy build and brown hair was fairly common.

However, if the target was someone from the Krauser mansion, the range narrowed considerably. Enough to narrow it down to just one person.

“Hah! Charles, it’s Charles…”

Charles. Helena repeated the name with a curve forming on her lips.

It was a smile born of joy, but one without a trace of warmth—cold enough that touching it might freeze one’s fingers.

“Now, my final question. Tell me where the poison that poisoned Zion Altram came from. You know, don’t you? Tell me that, and as promised, I’ll spare your life.”

“I know! I’ll tell you…!”

“And I’ll say it again, you must withdraw your branch. If the Assassin Guild is discovered within Krauser territory after today… you understand, right?”

The branch manager repeatedly bowed his head as he watched Helena turn her back after receiving the information.

Though he was in tatters, he would be able to move after a few days of recovery, and if he could preserve his life by withdrawing the branch, it was more than worth it.

Surviving an encounter with a monster with all limbs intact was nothing short of a remarkable achievement.

Thank goodness I’m alive. Really, thank goodness.

As he watched Helena disappear completely into the darkness, the branch manager’s mind was filled with the joy of survival.

So much so that there was no room for any other thought.

◎◎◎

“He-Helena, my lady…!”

In the dead of night, when silence was suffocating and darkness more pronounced.

A brown-haired man—Charles—was kneeling in Helena’s room in the middle of the night, trembling violently.

He had been in deep sleep in the servants’ quarters just moments ago, only to find himself in this predicament when he came to his senses.

And the culprit who had brought the sleeping Charles here without making a sound, Helena, slowly spoke while holding a knife tip to his Adam’s apple.

“Shut up. Be quiet. If you raise your voice one more time… I’ll stab your Adam’s apple with this knife and roast it on a hot plate like a skewer. If you understand, lower your voice.”

“Y-yes…!”

The threats and killing intent, so unlike the normally kind Helena, stimulated Charles’s fear.

Nevertheless, his body, following the instinct to survive, was obeying her razor-sharp commands very well. That was fortunate indeed.

“You commissioned the Assassin Guild to kill someone, didn’t you? And don’t try to deflect. I’ve looked into everything already.”

So it’s come to this!

Charles tightly closed his eyes and carefully nodded, thinking that the inevitable had finally arrived.

He moved cautiously because the knife tip was touching his Adam’s apple, and he feared a vigorous shake might put a hole in his throat.

“He-Helena, my lady. That was…”

“Cut the unnecessary chatter. What I want are direct answers. Answers containing only the essential information, without unnecessary rhetoric.”

Helena pressed the knife tip against Charles’s Adam’s apple, as if to say she wouldn’t tolerate even excuses.

She pierced just the outer skin slightly, enough for a little blood to seep out, but not enough to pierce the Adam’s apple. It wasn’t life-threatening.

However, the stinging sensation from the knife tip and the feeling of warm blood seeping out completely consumed Charles’s reason.

The instinct to survive by giving her the answers she wanted pushed him forward.

Whoever had threatened him before, whatever they had said, it no longer mattered.

The most primal violence and clear killing intent were right in front of him.

“I-I understand.”

As Charles squeezed out those words with determination, Helena threw her sharp question without further delay.

“Good. Then I’ll ask, it was Cain who told you to kill the man in the encampment, wasn’t it?”

“Y-yes. Lord Cain ordered it.”

This might get him killed by Cain.

But if he didn’t answer, he would die by Helena’s blade, so extending his life even a little was the right choice.

Charles answered without hesitation, using the answer he had squeezed out of his inadequate brain.

It didn’t matter if he was called spineless or unmanly.

He just wanted to take care of his own miserable life. He wanted to shake off this precarious feeling of walking a tightrope between two steep cliffs as quickly as possible.

“I see. Then do you know anything about the poison Zion consumed? Based on the circumstances, it’s certain that the man who commissioned the assassination also poisoned Zion.”

“Th-that was also Lord Cain’s doing. He ordered Ross, who was temporarily dispatched, to poison you, my lady, and then take care of the aftermath…”

Ross, huh. Helena showed an indifferent reaction upon learning this name she wasn’t particularly curious about. She didn’t care who the assassinated man was or where he came from; she just needed to know the connection.

But given Cain’s personality, he could have simply given orders without explaining the context.

He wasn’t the type to mention reasons to persuade Charles.

“With Cain’s personality, he would have just ordered the killing without explanation. How did you find out?”

“Out of cu-curiosity, I overheard a conversation between Ross and him. When he was looking for a temporary worker for a few days, I introduced Ross, but I never thought…”

When she asked just in case, Helena received an answer that made her quite pleased.

The reason for not having someone from Krauser poison her was easy to imagine.

By using someone with no prior connection, it would be easier to cut ties. Indeed, the mansion remained quiet both before the man was killed at dawn and afterward.

Additionally, there was clearly an intention to minimize the possibility of being caught.

“Ahaha!”

A laugh escaped Helena’s lips. Catching one tail had led to a clean sweep of everyone connected to it.

So she couldn’t help but laugh, Helena rationalized to herself.

“Good. But I need evidence?”

“I-I know how the poison was obtained. I heard from Ross…”

Ross, terrified after receiving orders to poison, had no choice but to poison Helena because his family was held hostage.

And Charles, while socializing with Ross, heard various stories until just before Ross left for the encampment. The source of the poison was one of those stories.

However, regarding the poison, Helena had already secured evidence, so there was no need to move Charles. She had only asked for verification.

“That’s enough. I actually already know about the poison. Anyway, now that I’ve secured both testimony and evidence… I’ll finish this tomorrow morning. So you sleep here tonight. Just in case Cain gets desperate and tries to silence you.”

Helena pointed to a corner midway between the window and the door, as if she had finished her business.

If by chance an assassin infiltrated, she planned to move herself and cut their lifeline.

“Are you… sparing my life?”

“Of course. You need to testify to make things easier. But once this is over, you’ll be banished from the duke’s territory. Remember that.”

“Th-thank you! Thank you!”

Charles roared in a low voice and pressed his head to the ground.

Being banished from the duke’s territory was painful, but he couldn’t help but be happy that the door to the possibility of preserving his life had opened wide.

“Tomorrow, tomorrow will be…”

Eyes like peering into an abyss, lips firmly pressed into a line.

Helena, with an expression like a doll’s, kept repeating the word “tomorrow” to herself like a broken phonograph.