Chapter Index

    “…It seems you’re not interested in my story after all.”

    With a sly smile here and there, Noah keenly noticed that Bian’s boss wasn’t interested in his story. It was disappointing, but he hadn’t come out empty-handed.

    Though lacking in intelligence, Bian’s organization excelled in power. It was a time when one could clearly see what kind of person the boss of such an organization was. That alone was a significant gain.

    “Oh, is that so?”

    Bian’s boss managed his expression belatedly, but Noah had no intention of continuing the conversation any further. She spoke firmly.

    “Alright. We’re both busy people, so let’s part ways here.”

    “I wonder if that will go as you wish?”

    Quite some time had passed since the signal was given. By now, there would have been time to take hostages. Bian’s boss, with an eerie grin almost baring his molars, spoke.

    “It seems like you’ve brought quite a precious one to 2024. Is she your lover?”

    “….! Damn it!”

    In an instant, Noah, who had grasped the situation, stood up from her seat.

    The person waiting in Room 2024 was Lily. Generally, when the bosses of two organizations meet, it’s a principle not to bring other members of the organization, but it was a rule that was hardly followed.

    This was because having a meeting in person without any protection in a situation where the opponent might strike at any moment was too risky. However, openly mobilizing organization members could be seen as a declaration of war.

    Therefore, it was customary to scatter organization members around discreetly and cautiously meet while being wary of each other. But Noah had no intention of doing so.

    There was not a single person stronger than Noah in her organization. The members she brought could become a burden instead. Noah even intended to leave behind Nero, who had offered to accompany her as a guard.

    No matter how strong Noah was, there was no one willing to quietly accept her walking into enemy territory alone.

    Nero, who became a strong escort to the point of being fingered by the organization due to tremendous resistance, decided to wait downstairs in preparation for unforeseen circumstances.

    It was such a sudden decision made by a small number of people that Noah, who had been at ease, bit his tongue and thought to himself.

    “I expected it, but there was a spy in the organization. And one among the officers.”

    Otherwise, the story about Lily would not have spread. He cursed inwardly at his own helplessness. He wanted to run out the door right away, but showing his back to the enemy in front of him would be foolish.

    Noah leaned back on the sofa with a cold, stern face and drew a sword from the scabbard resting on the sofa.

    Srrrk.

    Despite the threatening sound, the boss of Bian only laughed strangely without flinching. She raised her index finger lightly, shaking it from side to side as she spoke.

    “Oh, no, no. I couldn’t have said this without any action, could I?”

    “…What did my subordinate do?”

    In response to Noah’s fierce voice, Bian’s boss spoke nonchalantly.

    “Haha! Now you understand! First, sit down, sit down and finish telling me -…”

    Before she finished speaking,

    Crash!

    “Aaargh!”

    “Aaargh!”

    With the sound of something breaking and shattering, a dull noise was heard. At the same time, screams echoed outside the inn.

    Due to something falling in front of the inn, people passing by screamed and retreated. Someone shouted loudly.

    “Someone threw a corpse on the street!”

    In a place where morals and laws did not function properly, people only cursed at the ignorant act of throwing a corpse at passersby, and did not particularly get angry about someone’s death.

    Bian’s boss instinctively felt unease from the commotion coming from below. Her lips closed tightly, and when her gaze turned towards the window, the annoyed voice had suddenly turned into a frightened voice and began to shout.

    “Whoa, isn’t that the orc battalion?”

    “Ugh! I-It is! Looks like a fight between organizations! R-Run away!”

    “Wowww!”

    Outside lay scattered bodies, the orc battalion.

    The words indicated that his command had failed. Noah made a relieved expression and gestured to Nero behind him. It meant “Go down first.”

    Thud!

    Bian’s boss did not stop Nero from rushing out. He just silently rose from his seat with blood vessels bulging in his eyes.

    “No one does anything right around here!”

    As she growled, her clothes began to tear with a sound, swelling to a size reminiscent of a werewolf, Noah gripped his sword.

    “Grrr! I’ll take care of this! No one will survive this!”

    The battle between the two bosses began.

    ***

    At the same time, in bathroom 2023.

    “Phew.”

    Feeling good, after soaking in the bathtub, a hum escaped involuntarily. With a lazy smile, she opened the bathroom door slightly, grabbed her clothes, and quickly closed the door.

    “Huh? What’s this wood chip?”

    She chuckled as she saw sawdust and small broken wood chips on her clothes, lightly brushed them off, thinking she should keep the window closed to prevent dust from coming in.

    Thinking so, she got dressed. Since she had left the magic sword on her hand a while ago, she put a towel on her head and left the bathroom.

    “Sorry for taking so long. It’s been a while…”

    Softly smiling, Lian was about to continue speaking when she slowly lost her words.

    Jess, with a guilty puppy-like expression, was rubbing the floor with an unknown piece of clothing that seemed to be covered in blood.

    For some reason, Iris stood in front of the shattered window, looking at me with a pitiful expression.

    The floor was filled with blood, and the door was broken. Beyond it, several bodies were lying. I pointed down the corridor with trembling hands and said, “Ah, Iris, I was going to ask about Oxyana, but that…” “Suddenly coming and trying to hit me…” “Well done! Very well done!” Iris immediately raised her thumb in response to Iris’s grumbling words with a sullen face. “Well… well done…! Let’s get out of here now! If we cause such a big disturbance, the alley bosses might show up!” Sirens began to blare in my head. I quickly grabbed my belongings and strapped on my Jess (Jess: Uh…?) and then leaped out through the broken window, grabbing Iris’s hand with my other hand.

    Thud!

    The three bodies piled below cushioned our fall. “Ugh… such brutality!” “Those young kids took down an orc unit…” Those who were looking at the inn from a distance either admired Lian’s cruelty in using the bodies as cushions or shrank their shoulders at the emergence of a new powerful figure. I immediately turned around and went into the inn. I came face to face with the innkeeper who was running away with his belongings. “Ugh!” Only after seeing the innkeeper’s reaction did the children realize they were covered in blood. After handing over Jess, I offered a gold coin to the innkeeper. “I caused a little accident upstairs… some furniture got a little damaged. This is compensation for that.” “Huh.” Whether he liked the compensation or not, the innkeeper quickly nodded. “Then I’m busy now…” Thud, clatter! Thinking that my expectation was right, I took out a robe from my bag and put it on the kids, then put one on myself. However, this time, the robe I took out was a common mercenary robe. Since it was an accident, a conspicuous high-quality robe would not be helpful.

    With the help of the innkeeper, I escaped from the inn through the back door and ran towards the east, opposite to the inn.

    I stopped after running for a long time, feeling like I had traveled almost from one end of the city to the other. It seemed that a different alley boss was in charge here, judging by the distinctly different atmosphere from the area I was in before.

    Feeling relieved by this fact, I looked around.

    “Hey, you there.”

    At that moment, a voice mixed with annoyance reached me. Upon stopping my run due to the annoying situation, I hesitated whether to start running again to avoid getting involved.

    “You’re here to join the Black Assembly too, right? It’s about to start, so hurry up and go.”

    “…?”

    Feeling puzzled by the unexpected story, I stared blankly at the man, who chuckled and said,

    “There’s not a single person who would dare to pick a fight with someone running at such a crazy speed, so stop staring and go to the Black Assembly quickly.”

    Although my doubts about the Black Assembly were not resolved, I was thankful for not getting caught up in an annoying quarrel and began to look for a new inn with the children.

    “Oh, that inn looks nice. Shall we go there?”

    “Anywhere is fine as long as you’re there, big brother.”

    “Me too!”

    Seeing Jess wagging her tail wildly and Robe shaking, I laughed and headed to the inn with the children.

    “Well then, let’s start the Black Assembly.”

    …Of all places, it turned out to be where something like the Black Assembly was taking place.

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