episode_0487

The next morning, after resting all day at the inn and eating breakfast, I left.

After walking around the area for about an hour and feeling the atmosphere, the first impression I got was that it was quite similar to the Iron Horde in ‘Luminor Academy’.

There was a lively atmosphere that made it feel like a place where people gathered and lived. Compared to the shopping district buildings on the Island of Knowledge, most of the houses and shops were less than two stories tall, so it felt more like a village than a city, which wasn’t bad.

‘Maybe it’s because there are a lot of adventurers in this area, but the prices seem reasonable and the food isn’t too bad.’

This was the impression I got while eating a skewer I bought from a street vendor for market research. Judging from the slightly dry texture, it seemed to be made from something like pork hind leg, but it wasn’t so bad that I couldn’t eat it.

‘Should I stop by the Adventurer’s Guild first? Oh, and before that, I should visit the Blacksmith’s Guild and get some gear.’

Since this was my first time alone in years, I didn’t want to work too hard from day one. I thought I’d just take it easy and play around until today, and then work hard starting tomorrow.

… No, no. Even though you’re alone, don’t become too lazy. I know better than anyone that once a person like me starts to let go, they become uncontrollable.

Yesterday, I couldn’t work because I was too tired from moving around, but today, I’m going to somehow get my gear together and visit the Adventurer’s Guild. At the very least, I’ll make an Adventurer’s Guild, and if things go faster than I thought, I can try out a simple mission.

As I entered the alley leading to the craftsman’s street with those thoughts in mind, I felt like I was being watched from all over the place.

“… … .”

Because I’ve swung my sword so many times against monsters and humans alike, I can now roughly guess the purpose of the gazes I’m receiving just by intuition.

Because Lilith’s appearance was so striking, I could feel the men’s gazes on me earlier, but they were just gazes close to favor towards a pretty woman, whereas the gazes I felt now were somewhat closer to malice.

As I was trying to walk quickly to get out of the alley before I got into any trouble, several men came out from the front of the alley and blocked my path.

“Kelkel, why are you suddenly walking faster? Huh?”

“Don’t run too fast, just follow me quietly. If you scream or resist, I’ll bite your tongue… .”

“Ah, fuck. These fucking dickheads.”

“… … What?”

Seriously, is there not a single day in this fucking world where these guys don’t come and go?

How many times have I run into these guys since I left Blackwood Manor? I was trying to avoid killing people right away in a new town because I thought it would leave a bad taste in my mouth, but seeing these guys insist on doing it made my mouth water.

-Ugh.

“What, you little brats. If you’re going to fall for it, then come at me. If you run away now, I’ll let you off, so get out.”

“Kelkel, if you suddenly pull out a knife and start swearing, do you think your brothers will run away in fear?”

“She must be a precious young lady who grew up in a nice house, so what are you going to do with that small dagger?”

“It’s not like it’s for suicide, haha. If you want to threaten someone, you have to swing something like this, Inma.”

A thug who taunted me as he saw me take out a dagger, then pulled out a longsword from his waist and threatened me.

As I turned my gaze to look at the guys who had started to surround me from the front and back, one of the biggest guys confidently walked towards me.

“Follow me when I speak nicely. It breaks my heart to see you trembling with a weapon that doesn’t suit you… .”

-Crunch!

“… Heh heh?!”

“Really? Now, not only your mind but also your body is hurting?”

-dump.

A man who tried to grab my head with his bare hands, perhaps trying to show off, but was stabbed in the exposed chest with a dagger and fell to the ground.

As I roughly kicked away the body that was about to fall towards me, I felt the atmosphere around me change in an instant.

“Ugh, ugh… .”

“Hey, Odin!”

“ Fucking that baby, I thought it would be like that.

“But it looks different from the picture, so it’s still a can? It’ll be fun to play with it after a long time, right?”

Five men who seemed to think that I had knocked the guy down because I was careless and showed no sign of backing down.

-Phew!

-Crunch!

-Whoaaah!!

It didn’t even take five minutes for the number of corpses in the back alley to increase from one to six.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

“Oh, shit. I feel uneasy since the morning.”

As I was picking the pockets of back alley thugs, swear words naturally came out of my mouth.

Now, it wasn’t very efficient to just beat up and kill back-alley thugs. The level difference was so big that they only gave a pittance, and even if you searched their pockets like this, you’d only get three or four coins at most.

Even though they were just like monsters, it felt really weird compared to killing a real monster, and since you gain nothing in return, I couldn’t help but swear.

“Wow, this kid doesn’t have a single fairy tale in his pocket? How can he have all these things?”

Was he really a person who lived hand to mouth? He looked really skinny.

After cursing at the bastard who was thoroughly upholding the spirit of giving and receiving by choosing death on his own, I emptied the last bastard’s pocket and this time a coin of a slightly different color came out.

“Wow, awesome.”

Even these back-alley thugs use silver coins. Judging by the amount of stuff in his pockets, I’d say this guy is probably the leader of the Backstreet Boys who are all over the place.

As I was emptying my other pocket with such silly thoughts, this time a crumpled piece of paper popped out.

“Sixth day, 2nd basement level of the liquor warehouse.”

“Huh?”

… What is this strange coded note?

When I saw the piece of paper that looked like a clue from a mystery game, I wondered if it might be one of the events in 『Luminor Academy』, but I don’t remember any quests starting like this in Iron Horde.

Even if it really was a quest, it wasn’t something I would know about. I wasn’t in a warrior party, and I wasn’t an academy student anymore.

“Tsk. Why don’t you buy a decent shield and go on an adventure?”

I hurried down the alley, muttering something vague over the head of a thug who had already turned around and was not listening.

I feel like I’m going to get in trouble for wearing a one-piece dress and looking like a piece of shit, so I should just buy some new clothes and wear them.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

“Goodbye, sir!”

“Yes, please sell a lot.”

I changed into new clothes from head to toe and was seen off by the store staff before returning to the streets.

A black leather crop top worn over a slightly tight compression bra, with a red hooded scarf over it.

I also wore black pants that fit my body as closely as possible. I carefully checked that there was no discomfort in moving around in them even though they were long pants, perhaps because the material was quite stretchy.

Since 99% of the clothes I usually wear are skirts, I felt a little stuffy at the bottom for the first time in a while, but the basic outfit for an assassin is to wear tight black clothing like this.

‘… But it’s still a bit awkward to walk around with my belly button exposed.’

It’s not that there weren’t any T-shirts that came down to the waist in the clothing stores, but for some reason, when it came to assassins, the basic fashion was to walk around with their belly buttons exposed.

If you want to act like you were originally an assassin, you absolutely cannot look cheap on the outside. While a wizard can be wrapped up, an assassin must wrap up other parts of his body but at least reveal his stomach, which was the basic rule of clothing.

Likewise, with the leather belt, the assassin’s symbol, wrapped around his waist, he now looked quite presentable.

I guess the very sight of her gives off an air of, ‘I’m a bit of a dangerous woman.’

Even though I tried my best to hide the size, my breasts were still visible, so I was satisfied with the fact that I was able to somehow reduce their movement.

I went into the back alley again in my new clothes just to try it out. This time, I felt the same stares as before, but this time I was able to pass through quietly without any troublemakers.

‘It certainly works. As expected, you can’t look down on someone in this world.’

After passing through the back alleys and entering the craftsman’s street, satisfied with the lesson learned through (someone else’s) blood, I went straight to the equipment shop to get my shield, shoulder guards, and even a sword holder that could hold several daggers, and then bought a few daggers with an extremely assassin-like design from the weapon shop before heading to the adventurer’s guild.

From today, I begin my second life as an assassin, not a wizard.

… Well, sometimes I use magic when I’m in a hurry.