episode_0244

Night falls.

A white-haired woman runs across the rooftops.

Tat-tat-tat-

On the edge of the Ubiet Empire, a village where not many people live. Dying beggars litter the streets. Besides garbage and junk, many buildings are crumbling ruins.

The woman leaps high, using a brick building as a springboard. Her launch is like that of a bird. The debris looked as if it would crumble with just a little more force. However, her feather-light movements did not destroy the ruins.

Looking down slightly, she sees an empty main street. A village where ordinary people no longer live. Vagrants and thieves make their lair nearby. It’s also where dying retired mercenaries eke out an existence until their end.

‘It’s truly a den of vice…’

Untouched by the Imperial eye, it belongs to no one’s territory. Naturally, all sorts of criminals began to swarm. Drugs, murder, kidnapping, rape—it’s practically a lawless zone where any vicious act goes unpunished.

It was no different from what she’d seen in Akasto. She’d seen it many times, but each time, it made her stomach churn.

The woman ran towards the tallest tower nearby. A good spot for keeping watch. The top of the tower is visible from anywhere in the village; conversely, from the top, any part of the village is visible.

Taaat-!

She powerfully leaped, placing her foot on the tower wall. A black shadow flowed from her toes, seeping into the stone wall. Then, as if defying gravity, she began to walk along the wall.

“Kheugh… heugh…”

Reaching the top, she saw a soldier. Should she be thankful? He was slacking off. He was slumped in a chair, snoring loudly while on watch.

The woman looked at the black cloak surrounding the man. A familiar symbol was drawn on it.

‘Moriarty… I’ve found the right place.’

She reached out towards the void. A black shadow enveloped her entire arm, placing a sharp dagger in her hand. She swung the dagger, drawing a line across the sentry’s neck.

Chwaak-!

He met his end without even realizing it.

Swoosh- Swoosh—

She moved the corpse to one side of the top floor and slowly looked around. As befitting a ghost town, there were few bright places. It might seem strange to have lights on at night, but if you know the nature of this village, it makes sense.

After glancing around, a building soon caught her eye.

‘Found it.’

A building with a faint light emanating from within. Having lights on in this village means they are confident in their defense. It’s a bold act unimaginable for ordinary thieves or vagrants.

The most powerful group in this village. It had to be Moriarty’s.

‘So they were operating this band of thieves here.’

Moriarty gathers countless humans to offer as sacrifices to the demon god. When you inject magic power to the limit into ordinary people, most die because their bodies can’t take it. But some people withstand the magic and gain powerful strength.

The dead become sacrifices for the demon god, and the living become Moriarty’s soldiers. It’s advantageous either way, so the more humans, the better. The source seems to be these ruined villages on the outskirts of the Empire. Being in the shadows, it’s not strange if people disappear suddenly.

The woman kicked off the guard post’s railing and leaped again.

Taaat-!

This time, she didn’t run across the rooftops. Her destination was clear. She didn’t plan to hide her presence from the start. Even for ordinary thieves, spotting her, as she blended into the night’s darkness, would be impossible.

She arrived in front of the lit building.

‘Thirty-two… or thirty three.’

As expected, she sensed no powerful presence. The woman slowly approached the soldier on watch outside.

“…Who’s there?”

“Hey, sister. Isn’t it dangerous to be alone in a place like this in the middle of the night?”

“What’s with that blindfold? Are you blind?”

There were three soldiers. All were wearing black cloaks. One of them had his cloak draped over only one shoulder, revealing his face—a bald head.

The man licked his lips and slowly approached.

“Hey, look at this woman! Kheugh… killer body! She must be a prostitute. Does she even see ahead…”

“…Would a suspicious prostitute like that come to a place like this? Keep your wits about you. I asked you who you are.”

The man, who had pulled his cloak over his head, pointed a sword at the woman. Regardless, the bald man approached the woman with a lecherous expression. He put his arm around her neck and groped her breasts.

“Kya… look at this soft skin. You came here intentionally to be ravished, didn’t you?”

“Horny?”

The woman’s clear voice echoed. The bald man splayed his grin from ear to ear, laughing heartily.

“Yeah, damn horny—”

“First, remove that arm.”

Chwaak-

The other two soldiers’ eyes widened. The woman had ripped off the bald man’s arm that was groping her breast. She tossed the arm away, looking at it as if it were trash. It happened in an instant.

“Wh-what…?”

“Sorry to be blunt, but I’m not into men.”

The woman’s shadow rose from the ground in the shape of a sharp blade. The bald man’s body split in two, and the two pieces of his corpse tumbled to the floor. Even at the moment of his death, the bald man hadn’t even realized his arm had been torn off.

“Khhut, attack—”

Chwaak-!

The other two soldiers also raised their swords, assuming a combat stance, but their necks were severed before they could. The pitch-black darkness that enveloped the three soldiers seeped into the ground. The darkness became shadows, gathering back at the woman’s feet.

The woman immediately burst into the building.

“Now, gather here.”

At the sudden appearance of an outsider, the men in black cloaks opened their eyes wide and stared at the woman. There wasn’t a single bloodstain on her body. The battle had been so swift that they didn’t even have time to feel threatened.

No man feels fear first when seeing a beautiful woman.

“What, an event? And what’s with that blindfold?”

“Is this some kind of cosplay?”

“She’s pretty. A prostitute? For one, she looks quite refined.”

“A noble lady’s escapade, something like that? Kkkk-”

“Hey, miss. What happened to the guards at the entrance?”

Each one had a different reaction. The woman quickly scanned the interior. Fewer people were visible than she sensed from the outside. Some must be on the upper floors or in the basement.

‘I can’t avoid a protracted battle.’

The woman slowly stepped towards the inside.

“Is there a basement? How many are there in total?”

“Why are you asking? Oh, is this some kind of a work estimate?”

“Kkk, I’ll ask you back. Miss, how many can you handle at once?”

The woman smirked.

Fwoo-

At that moment, a sharp wind blew out all the candles on the walls. Sudden darkness descended upon the first floor of the building. Because there were no windows and it was crudely boarded up, even moonlight couldn’t penetrate.

“Wh-what…!!”

“Why did the lights… Hey, you, turn on the lights!”

Amidst the panicked men, the woman walked slowly. Every time she took a step, a black shadow rose from the floor. No one saw that sight. The soldiers could only see the darkness.

“My opponents… considering your number, I think I could handle ten thousand.”

The woman’s shadow had already covered the entire building. Soon, sharp blades sprang from the shadows, slicing all the soldiers.

Chwak- Chwaak- Chwaak-!!

“Khhut-”

“Khuh-”

Only two men managed to let out their death rattle. They were the only ones who survived the initial strike. The woman felt a sense of regret. She thought she could kill about thirty people silently, but she made a mistake as this was her first time using the [Shadow Domination] spell.

Of course, the second and third blades butchered the survivors.

“It’s over.”

There was no need to go to the upper floors or the basement. She no longer sensed the presence of the living. She had cleanly annihilated everyone in the building.

‘…Still, I need to check.’

The woman reached up toward her face. She pulled off the black blindfold, and it slid off with a *swoosh*. Then her tightly closed eyes were revealed.

Swoosh-

When the woman opened her eyes, two pupils emitting a pure white light shone within.

[Spiritual Eyes].

Eyes that see souls and mana aren’t obstructed by mere walls. After looking up once and down once, she confirmed there were no survivors.

“Ah, right.”

So focused on showcasing a new technique, she almost forgot the most important step. Soldiers tainted with magic could become Moriarty’s experimental materials or sacrifices for the demon god. She couldn’t do anything that would benefit her enemy.

She would take everything without leaving a trace.

『Trait, [One Who Transcended Nature’s Order] is activated.』

Soon, a pure white energy flowed from all over the building and seeped into the woman’s body.

Even though tainted with magic, souls still exist. To prevent them from being misused by Moriarty, she neatly absorbed the souls of the dead soldiers.

“One down.”

The woman closed her eyes again and put on her black blindfold. She had no further business here, but as a minimal courtesy to the dead, she decided to hold a funeral of sorts.

She set the building on fire as she left. The corpses and wooden planks served as fuel, burning brightly. It shone most strongly in the middle of the dark village.

That night, a total of five Moriarty branches were annihilated in the same manner. Through the testimony of survivors other than Moriarty’s soldiers, the woman’s existence began to spread throughout the empire as a rumor.

A white-haired woman who did not touch anything else and exterminated only suspicious thieves.

People called her the White Ghost.